On March 16, thousands of restaurant industry employees in Connecticut lost their jobs overnight, plunging the state’s service industry into deep uncertainty.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shut down restaurants and bars indefinitely, servers, bartenders, line cooks, dishwashers and managers were left to navigate an overloaded state unemployment system, some ultimately not receiving benefits for weeks or months. And as restaurants reopened for outdoor dining in May, then indoor dining in June, employees had to weigh whether it was safe to go back, or to stay home and continue receiving benefits — which may have totaled more than what they’d normally earn in a week.

One young Glastonbury mother, unable to secure unemployment payments for three months, applied for SNAP benefits to feed her family. A Farmington server, whose wife was expecting their second child, dipped into savings to cover expenses. People sent each other frantic messages and posted in Facebook groups asking for help or guidance.

“In this business, it’s not just paycheck to paycheck. It’s shift to shift,” said Khalid Williams, bar manager at Taprock Beer Bar & Refuge in Unionville. “That Tuesday double might be what I’m looking forward to to make my car payment.”

Seven months later, many are back to work, but as the winter approaches and restaurants lose outdoor dining options, many fear the coronavirus will threaten their livelihoods again. These Hartford-area managers, servers and bartenders shared what they’ve been through this year, and what’s at stake in the future.

Sam Dziecol, Marlborough Tavern

Dziecol, a bartender, was at an exercise class with her boss March 16 when they heard the news that Gov. Ned Lamont was shutting down state restaurants as of 8 p.m. that night. “Instant panic,” she said. “We just ran out of there. It was really scary.”

She said she’d never expected anything like that to happen to the restaurant industry, in her wildest dreams.

“I thought, for some reason, [we would be closed] two weeks, all right, two weeks,” she said. “And when [Lamont] changed it to indefinitely, that really was hard. The unknown was the hardest part, I think.”

Dziecol was able to collect unemployment, but she missed the social aspect of her industry. “When you don’t know when it’s going to be over, and you’re just sitting inside, and you go from human interaction [and] the restaurant atmosphere to just nothing, it’s such an emotional, spiritual and mental [struggle]; it’s awful.”

She was happy to return to Marlborough Tavern in mid-May, when the restaurant reopened for takeout one week before the state allowed outdoor dining on May 20. But with a limited staff, she was handling three roles in the beginning: bartending, serving and also running the restaurant’s social media, getting the word out about the reopening.

Five months later, she said she’s apprehensive about the approaching winter, as the Tavern’s patio has been a big draw.

“I hope people feel safe enough to come inside and know that we’re doing everything that we possibly can to keep it clean and keep our guests safe,” she said. “Because this is our livelihood, and without them, we’re nothing. We need them.”

Customers, both returning and new, have been “very grateful, very appreciative, very generous,” she said.

“It’s been really heartwarming to see how much people care. ... You see those regulars that came back in for the first time, and their faces light up when they see you, and they’re just so glad we’re open and that everyone’s doing OK.”

Ruvin Bogati and Luke Alexander, Fork & Fire

As restaurants shut down, Farmington’s Fork & Fire and its sister pizzeria next door, Naples, stayed open for takeout. Bogati, Fork & Fire’s general manager, and chef Jason Welch handled the majority of the takeout operations as they watched employees struggle to get unemployment benefits.

“We’re a close-knit group,” said Bogati. “It’s tough, for a manager, to have his employees struggling in a way where you can’t help.”

Employee Luke Alexander was among those employees, waiting two months for benefits. He still doesn’t know what caused the lag, but it was a nerve-racking time to be without income; he and his wife welcomed their second child at the end of May.

Working through the height of the pandemic, Bogati and his fiancée, who’s also a restaurant manager, made the decision to go nowhere but work, fearing they could expose loved ones. “We couldn’t see our families for months, and that takes a toll,” he said.

As Connecticut restaurants reopened, Bogati said it was a “double-edged sword” to ask employees to return to work. Unemployment benefits, which offered an extra $600 a week for pandemic compensation through the end of July, were sometimes higher than workers’ normal paychecks. Some still didn’t feel safe returning to a restaurant setting.

Some of his employees “felt crappy” about taking the unemployment checks and staying home, Bogati said, but he and Fork & Fire owner Kurt Kruczek both said they wanted their staff to do what was best for them and their families, particularly with the unpredictability of the situation.

As winter approaches, the uncertainty continues. Fork & Fire’s small space doesn’t allow for it to increase up to 75% occupancy while still keeping 6 feet between tables. The restaurant has improved its takeout operations, and the executive order allowing to-go mixed drinks was great for its sales, Bogati said. But he said he hopes enough people are comfortable dining indoors in the cold months.

“What makes us successful is ... people need to be here. It’s the experience. It’s talking to our staff. It’s the vibe,” he said.

Don Henderson, J. Gilbert’s

Henderson was part of the team that stayed on board in March and helped implement a busy takeout operation. That was a learning curve, he said, because the the upscale steakhouse hadn’t ever done takeout in large volume.

Some of his colleagues went into “panic mode” with the shutdowns, he said, as unemployment benefits proved difficult to secure, and they didn’t have enough in savings.

“Some people, it was two or three months before they even got their first paycheck,” he said. “So if they didn’t have anything in their bank, they didn’t know what to do.”

Henderson is back to working about four nights a week, and he said it’s been an adjustment to learn new safety protocol, including mask-wearing and frequent glove-changing and hand washing.

While they’re necessary, he said, the procedures add extra time to service in an industry where “every second counts.” He also believes masks can detract from the dining experience.

“People can’t hear you nearly as well; they can’t see your facial expressions. So the experience really just isn’t the same from what they’re used to,” he said. “Because interacting with people, that is part of our job, like showmanship, being part of the entertainment.”

Anne Canfijn, Cotton Hollow Kitchen

Canfijn, a server at the South Glastonbury restaurant, filed for unemployment right away when restaurants shut down, but it was three months before she received a check.

She was initially ruled ineligible to receive benefits, she said, in part due to some confusion over the length of time she had worked at Cotton Hollow. Two months after the shutdown, she began an appeal process with the Department of Labor, and she was granted a hearing six weeks after that.

“It was mid-June when I actually got my benefits coming through,” she said.

Three months without income was “rough,” she said. The adjudication process required her to fax paperwork, including letters from employers and pay stubs, and she spent $80 in one day at Staples to do so, she said.

Canfijn, the mother of an 8-year-old son, had some money saved, she said, but she went through quite a bit of it. Her landlord gave her a few months to catch up on rent, and she received SNAP benefits in April to help pay for groceries. Other friends in the local service industry pointed her to a Facebook group, where people were posting questions about the unemployment process and offering advice.

She still picks up shifts at the restaurant, but she’s now working full time apprenticing to become an optician. Working as a server in an indoor dining setting makes her somewhat nervous, she said, as her son has asthma and he’s home doing full remote learning.

“The whole process kind of scared me a little bit about the job security and going back at limited capacity, and if I was going to be able to make the same amount of money, and also keeping myself and my family safe,” she said.

She also wishes she’d had more support or guidance to navigate the shutdown and the unemployment process.

“[It would have helped] to be able to talk to someone to say, ‘Hey, this is my situation. What do I need to do?’” she said. “Because it was all kind of figuring that out on my own ... was very frustrating.”

Leeanne Griffin can be reached at lgriffin@courant.com.

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