Last summer, Tracy Chang's Cambridge restaurant PAGU became one of the first local restaurants to require proof of vaccination for all customers. And though all indoor diners visiting restaurants and bars in Boston will need to show proof of vaccination starting Jan. 15, Cambridge has yet to require the same — but is expected to announce a policy soon.
Chang joined Boston Public Radio on Friday to share why proof of vaccination mandates are necessary for restaurants, and how her business has fared during the winter surge in COVID-19 cases.
“More guests coming to the restaurant will just be aware that this is a policy now coming from [Boston Mayor Michelle Wu], and not just coming from PAGU and coming from a select few restaurants,” Chang told Boston Public Radio hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan. “So that's good to be on the same page as policymakers.”
Chang believes that Cambridge policymakers should follow in the footsteps of Boston in order to ease the burden on small businesses already struggling through the pandemic.
“The common voice from U.S. small businesses and restaurant owners is that we do agree that it should not fall on small businesses to be making these kinds of calls,” she added.
Due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts and across the nation, Chang has increased public health precautions for both staff and diners at her restaurant. Employees are required to wear N95 or KN95 masks, and Chang has a supply of masks available for diners. PAGU has also continued to test staff weekly, something Chang says has stopped potential outbreaks.
“In addition to being fully vaccinated and boosted, we've been able to mitigate several situations [of coronavirus spread],” Chang said. “We've had two cases of positivity, and we've been able to mitigate any kind of spread with it. And that's something I recommend to other business owners.”
Although Chang has taken measures to make indoor dining safer, she said customers' worries over the omicron variant and yet another pandemic winter have hurt business.
“Obviously, we don't have a patio now. It snowed like 8 inches overnight,” Chang said. “And [for] business right now, we have been down over 75%. We continue to kind of negotiate with our landlord about the future of our rent structure.”
Chang stated that PAGU did not receive aid from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, claiming that the majority of funds went to large restaurant groups rather than small businesses. According to an April 2021 study from the office of then–mayoral candidate Wu, nearly half of the $340 million allotted to Boston went to restaurants in Back Bay, Downtown and the Seaport alone.
“You know, you can count on one hand how many small businesses are in those locations. Those are a lot of restaurant groups,” Chang said. “So a lot of small businesses, like myself and some of my friends, did not [receive funds]. I think that is really challenging for us moving into 2022, because we just don't have that war chest to sit on.”
She said PAGU's future is uncertain.
“We're a small, family-run business," she said. "There's no restaurant group, there's no private equity, or something behind this.”
Tracy Chang is the James Beard Award–nominated chef and owner of PAGU in Cambridge near MIT, she’s also the co-founder of Off Their Plate and Project Restore Us.
