Chef Jon Bonnell holds up signs in support of Black Lives Matter protestors on Saturday.
Chef Jon Bonnell holds up signs in support of Black Lives Matter protestors on Saturday.
It’s been a wild re-entry for Fort Worth restaurants as they return to dine-in service for the first time in three months, since COVID-19 shut them down to all but takeout and curbside sales.
On top of COVID’s lingering impact, nationwide and local protests against police — and a resulting curfew that ran for several nights — began just as restaurants were trying to reopen. The Fort Worth restaurateur Jon Bonnell, who’s kept business going for the last three months via popular curbside sales of family meal packs, was drawn into interacting with protestors outside Waters just days into his reopening. He confirmed Tuesday he plans to reopen his Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine in southwest Fort Worth this Friday to tableside service for the first time, two weeks after he reopened his Waters Restaurant in Sundance Square downtown. Bonnell re-opened his Buffalo Bros restaurants to dine-in service several weeks ago.
Bonnell agreed to a Q&A with Fort Worth Magazine Tuesday.
Reopening Bonnell’s: “We are going to open this Friday for regular dine-in service. We’ll have Plexiglas in the windows [between tables] or partitions between tables. We’ll probably be around the 50% [capacity] mark. The government allows 75%. The spacing will be the limiting factor. We will be open five days a week, off Sunday and Monday. For those who don’t feel safe coming out, we will continue curbside service five days a week [and off Sunday and Monday]. We start at 4 p.m. [with curbside sales] and are usually done by 5:30. The bar opens at 4. Dinner reservations start at 5:30. The kitchen can go to a more normal schedule. Everybody has just been working to death.”
Reservations at Bonnell’s: “We’re almost fully booked the first night. We haven’t told anybody yet. We put notes in the bags at curbside starting yesterday. Word just started to spread.”
Rehiring employees: Before COVID-19, Bonnell’s four Fort Worth restaurants — including Buffalo Bros — had 265 employees. “We cut to 30. We’ve been slowly hiring back as we’ve opened places. We are still on a very limited staff. We’ll be serving a limited menu [at Waters and Bonnell’s]. We still have a limited seating, but at least it feels like we’re heading in the right direction.”
Waters reopening (five days a week for dinner, off Sunday and Monday): “It’s been one week, and so far, the sales have been very good, very consistent. We’re not seeing a lot of people downtown during the day yet, so we’re going to hold off on serving lunch right now. We’ve been on a wait list during the weekends.”
Waters capacity: “We’re at about 42%. It’s the way your seats are set. That means your labor can only be 42%. There are certain formulas where the math just doesn’t change. It’s not about the percentage any more. It’s the 6-foot spacing.”
Downtown protests: A splinter group of protestors began entering Fort Worth restaurants nearly a week ago, trying to disrupt business using bullhorns and slogans with expletives. One customer at Texas de Brazil on Thursday night threw a glass of water on one of the protestors.
As the protestors entered Texas de Brazil, Fort Worth Police called other downtown restaurants, including Waters, to let them know, Bonnell said. “The police called every restaurant and told us to lock our doors. We did. They [protestors] marched by. Friday, I was there, and we decided we would watch. We stood by the door. Somebody came and said they were coming by the patio [on the other side of the restaurant].”
One of the leaders of the group identified Bonnell on the patio as a community leader. “He said, 'I need you to give the mayor a message.' I said, 'What’s that?' He said, 'I need you to stand up and say, 'Black Lives Matter.'”
Bonnell, who steadfastly avoids politics on his robust social media channels, told the group leader, “We’re on your side. I saw that video [of George Floyd], and I cried. That person shouldn’t have died. I’m with you all. We hurt too. We’ve been closed for 80 days, and we need to be in business. If not, we’re going to be in bankruptcy. He came up, and we hugged.”
Saturday, Bonnell says, “We decided to take an even more proactive approach. I don’t take political stances. I’ll always stand up for what’s right, but I don’t want to to be political. I hate politics. I’m a gun owner, a hunter, but I don’t belong to the NRA. If you join a political side, there’s parts of it you’re not going to agree with. This entire [Black Lives Matter] movement, there are plenty of things I agree with, but others I don’t. I don’t support eliminating the police. If you join a whole movement, you’ve got the whole bucket.”
So Bonnell made several signs, including “George Floyd Did Not Deserve to Die," “Black Lives Matter To Us Too,” “Racism is Never OK," and “The Only Thing Black that I Hate is Jelly Beans.” Bonnell held up the signs as protestors marched by, and some customers asked if they could hold up the signs.
Bonnell passed out bottles of cold water to the protestors. “If it brings out the good feelings and we can agree on the parts we can agree on, it makes sense,” he says.
Bonnell’s delicate positioning earned him numerous plaudits on social media, and one critic — debunked by numerous Bonnell supporters — accused of him of having “caved” to save his sales. One customer on the patio told Bonnell he disagreed with Bonnell.
“There was one customer on the patio who said, ‘I do not agree with the stance that you’re taking. You should not appease these people. You should not have taken their side.’ I said, ‘We went out there for one moment, gave some guys some water, and you get to eat in peace.’ I did not join their entire movement.”