There’s no doubt that when the world shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of individuals and industries suffered. At the time there were of course, discussions online about how to support these small businesses and local restaurants but unless you worked in a restaurant or a small store, it was just a talking point that may have been lost in the sea of the constant news cycle we lived in.
But if you work in the service industry, especially a small restaurant, no doubt you experienced a different part of the pandemic and side than many other people did. A new documentary from Gravitas Ventures – Sorry We’re Closed, is taking a deeper look at the impact of the pandemic, and lockdown, and how it has reshaped the restaurant industry in our country.
As the news broke of the virus spreading, Chef Elizabeth Falkner, started to document what was going on and decided to check in on some of her fellow chefs throughout the country. The documentary follows her from restaurant to restaurant throughout the country to see how they’re adapting and what impact the news, the virus, and even racial tensions are having on their businesses.
It’s an interesting perspective of an event we all lived through but from a different lens. To see just how fragile the systems that are in place were, and still are, is actually shocking. But seeing the industry recover and still shape itself differently from the result of the pandemic is eye-opening. As the world continues to try to pretend that everything is normal, outwardly the restaurant industry seems to have resumed business but the documentary will have you questioning – at what cost.
Sorry We’re Closed is now playing in select theaters.
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About Sorry We’re Closed:
In the summer of 2020, when restaurants are doubly hit hard by Covid-19 and the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, Chef Elizabeth Falkner sets out across the country to check in with her renowned chef and restaurateur colleagues to find out how they are coping with the impossible task of keeping their doors open.The film explores how chefs pivoted, trying to stay afloat through new take-out menus and pop-up grocery stores. Innovations abounded and yet the cracks in the system loomed large. What if all of our ‘go-to’ places were gone? What if we were permanently told, “Sorry, We’re Closed”?