Banquet halls still closed because of COVID. Owners have plenty of debt — but no parties
The tables are set with the usual finery — glasses, plates, napkins, grand centerpieces — and the curtains are drawn, waiting for revelers. But the halls are eerily silent.
As the Luis Miguel rendition of the Luis Demetrio ballad so aptly says, “The door closed behind you and you never appeared again.”
Banquet halls are the big losers of the pandemic in Miami, say a group of 25 owners who met recently with el Nuevo Herald. Since March, no quinceañera has danced with her proud father; no brides have tossed their bouquets to waiting bridesmaids. Instead, like grooms left standing at the altar, banquet hall owners have been left with a hefty tab for rent that is running them dry.
“People consider that as an industry we don’t exist. At first we received calls from clients interested in parties for the future, but those calls stopped,” said Freya Guerrero, owner of Studio305, in Kendall, and Utopia305, in Medley.
When the economy reopened in mid-May after the quarantine, some salons had time to throw a couple of parties. But on July 7, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez ordered the closure of all indoor dining. On Tuesday, the mayor announced that restaurant dining rooms will reopen Aug. 31, but banquet halls remain closed.
Meanwhile, some clients whose events had to be canceled due to the COVID rules are demanding refunds. Some hall owners have given clients credit for up to two years, but some simply want the money, Guerrero said.
She also complained that hall owners weren’t allowed even to use their spaces for smaller events that would have facilitated social distancing.
“We are only generating debt and no profit,” said Guerrero. Monthly rent on one of her halls amounts to $6,000. “Multiply that by six months and add another location.”
The future of banquet halls
Guerrero says that a group of 25 banquet hall owners sent a certified letter to Mayor Gimenez on July 8 but have not yet received a response. They also contacted several commissioners with the same result. So about 25 of them began sharing information about loans, grants and strategies for marketing to clients for events in future months.
Their No. 1 plea: let them open their spaces so prospective clients can see them and begin planning events for the holiday season.
“Nobody pays you the day before,” said Manuel de la Cruz, who opened Epic Events in Doral in 2017. “Being closed kills us.”
Reservation deposits would provide the cash flow needed to stay in business, he explained.
Rosario Sanchez, who saved for 10 years to open Revolution Party Studio in Kendall, said that “the only thing we are asking is that they allow us to open with the regulations that are chosen, but that they listen to us,” she said..
Sanchez estimates that she invested about $300,000 to build out and decorate her space and install bars, sound equipment and screens. After three years in operation, she was set to success. “As of March, [the hall] was completely booked,” she said.
Then the pandemic hit. Now her landlord is “asking her for the keys” because she owes the rent.
To comply with COVID measures, Guerrero said she has invested almost $3,000, buying hand-sanitizing stations, square tables to reorganize her space and new tablecloths.
It’s not just owners’ pockets that are feeling the pinch. Permanent employees have been let go; service providers like photographers, limousines and food suppliers are also getting hurt.
Several told el Nuevo Herald that they have received no loans through federal programs including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or other assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Guerrero said she did receive a PPP loan, which gave her $1,000 for each of her 25 employees. But the amount wasn’t enough to cover her ongoing business expenses.
“They have forgotten about us,” the five owners said in a spontaneous chorus, hoping that together they will be better heard.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
