New Orleans restauranteurs struggle during lockdown

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Bourbon Street may be the lifeblood of New Orleans.

But the streets of the French Quarter this week sat empty.

And its storied restaurants were shuttered, some offering only take out or delivery.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) GALATOIRE'S RESTAURANTS PRESIDENT & CEO MELVIN RODRIGUE SAYING:

"Despite the fact that we've been around since 1905, we have to work hard every day to continue to provide a level of service and the standard of quality that we want coming out of the kitchen. So to just stop everything on a dime and have to restart it is not going to be an easy feat."

Melvin Rodrigue is the CEO and President of Galatoire's, which has been serving the city’s distinctive Creole cuisines for over a century.

He’s had to lay off nearly 135 of his approximately 160 employees.

Galatoire's is still doing take-out and delivery business, but unless tourism returns, Rodrigue isn’t sure the restaurant has a future.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) GALATOIRE'S RESTAURANTS PRESIDENT & CEO MELVIN RODRIGUE, SAYING:

"We still need meetings and conventions and leisure travelers to be able to get, you know, where we need to be from a revenue standpoint. So when does that start coming back into play?"

It’s not the first time the Crescent City and its businesses have faced hardship.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) LOUISIANA RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT & CEO, STAN HARRIS, SAYING:

"New Orleans pre-Katrina had 7-800 non-chain restaurants. Post-Katrina, now in this time, probably 1,250 restaurants. That's a lot of independent restaurants in what is a small market."

Stan Harris is the president and CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) LOUISIANA RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT & CEO, STAN HARRIS, SAYING:

"And so if you don't have those 18 million tourists, corporate visitors, meeting visitors, trade show attendees coming to town, you're going to put a whole lot of inventory availability without a lot of demand."

Stay-at-home orders have pummeled the restaurant business nationwide.

The National Restaurant Association said its latest survey showed two-thirds of its workers - more than 8 million people - have been laid off or furloughed as four in 10 restaurants are closed.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) LOUISIANA RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT & CEO, STAN HARRIS, SAYING:

"What makes this a very different circumstance is when we have a hurricane or we have some other malady like the oil spill, it's easy to rally the brand of New Orleans and say, 'let's get people to come to New Orleans and go help them'. Well, we have communities all around us in all these neighboring states that are struggling for the same thing right now. They may not be as tourism dependent but I think they're not going to be as readily ready to come back into the state here and see what we're doing."