400 Restaurants Band Together To Fight Whitmer’s COVID-19 Rules

Hundreds of restaurants banded together to push back against Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent coronavirus mandates, Fox Business reported Monday.

Joe Vicari, president of the Joe Vicari Restaurant Group in a Monday appearance said a total of 400 eateries in the state have joined the push against Whitmer’s lockdowns, Fox reported. Michigan is nearing the end of a three-week pause that shuttered indoor dining and bar service, but the governor has indicated a willingness to re-extend the restrictions that end on Tuesday, according to Bridge Michigan.

“I called my restaurant groups in southeastern Michigan to band together,” Vicari told Fox’s Stuart Varney. “We had about 400 restaurants come together. We’re standing united. We want to get to a solution with the governor to reopen restaurants.”

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The group, which has been conducting meetings through Skype, initially tried to outright resist the lockdowns by keeping their doors open, but authorities quickly threatened to close them down, Rosalie Vicari, a co-owner of the restaurant group, told Varney.

“We learned very quickly it’s hard to fight City Hall,” she said. “When you work in an industry that is controlled by licenses, a food license and a liquor license that the state holds, you don’t have a lot of say.”

“We, as restaurateurs, feel very confident that we’ve been following the protocols that have been established by the governor to make our restaurants safe,” she continued.