A popular restaurant in New York City that has won a James Beard Award and has a chef with a James Beard Award made it through the horrible spring of 2020 when New York City became the base of the United States’ Coronavirus disaster. Before opening as an outdoor restaurant, the Lido was closed. In the drive to become healthy again, it battled advanced safety guidelines, mask and vaccine requirements, supply chain delays, increasing prices, a workforce shortage, and various obstacles.

Lido owner Susanna Koteen said, “We were getting close to 100 percent.” Then the Delta/coronavirus outbreak and the highly infectious Omicron strain spiked.

A new Coronavirus infection has been reported in New York over the weekend, and officials around the country are bracing for another desolate pandemic season. Few Broadway dramas have been called off, offices remain closed, and people are climbing to regroup their Christmas arrangements in New York City.

Koteen noted, “We’ve taken a massive nosedive in the last two weeks.”. “It’s agonizing.” Many of the customers cancel their bookings and gatherings all the time, she reported. A total of ten of her 70 employees tested positive for the virus, which has prompted the restaurant to scramble to find replacements.

Koteen considered shutting Lido during the month of January over the weekend. Instead, she believes that “we’ll limp along” for the winter. “All of the people who work for me are my responsibility. Not only do I want them paid, but I also don’t want them to get sick,” she explained. “This is going to be a difficult time.”