After just over a month of San Francisco requiring restaurants and bars to check patrons for vaccination status, the city is finally learning about the impact the mandate has had on the hospitality industry.
In a survey given to members of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, the majority (79%) of the 151 responses reported “very few issues” with customers’ willingness to show proof of vaccination. That’s despite 52% stating that one or more employees experienced a conflict related to verification.
Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, told SFGATE she was “a little disappointed” to hear there are restaurants still experiencing issues, but said, “The overwhelming majority have not had very many issues, which is, I think, a testament to San Francisco and our residents, and our visitors right now.”
For restaurants that cater more to tourists than local residents, there was initial concern over how to inform patrons of the vaccination card mandate, especially for those who are traveling from areas with less restrictive COVID-19 requirements. Bob Partrite, chief operating officer of Simco Restaurants — which owns a number of dining establishments on Pier 39, including Pier Market and Fog Harbor — said that when the vaccine card checks were first announced by the city, he was very concerned about how people were going to take it and what it would mean for his restaurants.
Overall, however, Partrite reported that requiring proof of vaccination has “gone over much better than I anticipated.”
“It’s been a rough bumpy road for the last 17 months with every state, every county doing their own thing and having different mandates and different rules, regulations, and ordinances — I think the public is very confused on what they can do and what they can’t do,” Partrite said. “So the fact that the whole city of San Francisco instituted a mandate that a proof of vaccination was required, it was somewhat of a relief that we didn’t have to make that choice [of], ‘Are we going to do it? Are we not going to do it?’”
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