The weather is already starting to get colder, which means less people want to eat outside.

This is starting to concern local restaurant owners who rely on outdoor seating.

“We’re seeing a massive decline of people that are willing to eat outside,” Jason Pierce, owner of Savoy Taproom and Copper Crow in Albany explained. “The first couple days of this week we were 40 percent down from the weeks prior and that’s a huge number. It’s hard to make up for that.”

The indoor dining capacity limit is still capped right now at 50 percent for Upstate New York restaurants.  

Pierce says he has now invested over $2,000 into outdoor heaters and fire pits, on top of other COVID-19 related expenses.

And now all these costs are starting to add up.  

“I mean $2,000, it’s not a whole lot to spend on upgrading a patio,” Pierce said. “But if you consider that we spent around $10,000 to build this patio, and if you consider that we have to buy masks and we have to buy gloves, the costs are ever increasing just to do business.”

According to a survey conducted by the New York State Restaurant Association, over 60 percent of restaurants surveyed say they might have to shut their doors by the end of the year without additional funding.

Melissa Fleischut, president of the Restaurant Association says now even outdoor heater prices have gone up and some businesses are struggling to purchase them.

But with snow season around the corner, Fleishchut says there needs to be a long term solution.

“It’s still a real challenge. Having more people on staff and trying to create these outdoor areas has been expensive too,” Fleischut explained. “So we’re still pushing for additional federal relief from the federal government.”

Senator Sue Serino also has a bill right now in the State Legislature that would provide grants to small businesses using money left over from the CARES Act.

This would be used help provide relief to businesses that are struggling to front these additional COVID-related costs on top of revenue shortfalls from the pandemic.

“When it comes to helping our small businesses, they are the fabric of our communities,” Serino explained. “They are economic drivers, if we lose them we are really going to be in bad shape. And I think the government needs to step up and do everything they can to help them.”

In the meantime, Pierce says that Savoy Taproom will make it through this pandemic, but he says he is worried for other restaurant owners who are facing similar challenges.

“We have the ability to adapt and overcome but not every restaurant can,” Pierce said. “So if things drop back to only surviving on takeout sales a lot of restaurants are going to close.”