The Bearded Lady
The Bearded Lady
Quincy Wallace spent a few weeks sprucing up his popular burger joint, Fred’s Cafe, before reopening to the public after a three-month-long COVID-19 hiatus. His staff came in to help with painting and repairs — a way to keep earning money while the restaurant was shut down.
They reopened the doors of their Currie Street location June 24 with an eager staff who passed temperature checks and COVID-19 questionnaires — only to have an employee test positive for the virus the next day.
Wallace had no choice but to close his restaurant again after less than 24 hours of being open. Fred’s made an announcement about the positive employee through social media in an effort to be fully transparent with the community.
“I didn’t give it a second thought,” he says. “To be honest with you, it was just second nature. It was the right thing to do.”
But there’s no law in Texas that states restaurant owners must come forward when one of their employees tests positive for the virus or that businesses must close; those are only recommendations. It’s up to businesses to choose honesty and responsibility over the almighty dollar.
Shannon Osbakken owns the Near Southside gastropub, The Bearded Lady. She had to shut down after an employee’s COVID test came back positive on June 23.
“Immediately, we closed the restaurant, let all of our employees know the situation, and said that they needed to get tested before coming back to work,” Osbakken says. “We made a statement on our Facebook just letting all of our customers know why we were closing down.”
She says the public nature of her business meant that she needed to be forthcoming with the information.
“I felt that it was our duty,” she says. “Especially as a restaurant, we're such a publicly operated business. It was the best route for us.”
Several other Fort Worth restaurants and bars have made similar announcements about COVID-positive employees including Spiral Diner, Seven Mile Cafe, The Black Rooster Cafe, Thompson’s, Zoli’s Pizza, and The Lunch Box.
“It seems like every time I open up Facebook, I'm seeing another one of my friend's restaurants get hit by it,” Wallace says. “And I know that we're doing everything we know how to do to keep everybody safe.”
Both Wallace and Osbakken say that the feedback from customers following their announcements was overwhelmingly positive. Comments on their posts like “thank you for your vigilance and responsible handling of this” and “love that you are open and honest to your customers” show that the public appreciated the businesses acting in good faith.
“I don't feel like it puts a scarlet letter on you,” Osbakken says.
The Bearded Lady and Fred’s both hired professional sanitization companies to clean their restaurants. Their staff stayed home until it was certain that no one else caught the virus. But Wallace says he was frustrated by the lack of clear and unanimous guidance from public officials on how to proceed after an employee tests positive for COVID.
“OSHA says something different than the CDC who says something different from the WHO who says something different from the Governor,” he says.
Ultimately, he turned to the Texas Restaurant Association and Tarrant County Public Health for recommendations.
Neither establishment has fully reopened. A few days after The Bearded Lady closed, Governor Greg Abbott announced a mandate shutting down businesses that made over 51% of their sales from alcohol. Even though Osbakken’s business sells its fair share of food, they’re still technically licensed as a bar. She’s applied for a restaurant permit, but in the meantime, she’s focusing on take-out orders.
Wallace says he isn’t certain when his Currie Street location will reopen its doors, but it will be “soon.” Fred’s North on Western Center Boulevard is open and was also professionally sanitized out of an abundance of caution.
For the time being, Fred’s North is only operating at 30% occupancy because Wallace feels anything more is too dangerous.
“When we got released to 75% capacity, I walked in the restaurant and saw [the crowd], and I said, ‘Absolutely not. No way,’” he says.
Without clear guidance from officials, restaurant owners as a whole are left struggling to adjust their business practices based on their own judgment. Another sick employee or further shut downs could mean the end of their business for good.
“If I have to close again, there is no more Fred’s,” Wallace says. “There's just no way to do it.”
