By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Well-known restaurants yesterday reported a 40 percent sales decline due to the economic shutdown created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Philip Smith, the Compass Point Resort and Restaurant’s property manager, told Tribune Business: “We have seen a mixture of cancellations, although mostly we have been able to salvage some of our guest stays by giving them one full-year after their date of arrival to make other arrangements or to delay their stay with us at the hotel.

“The restaurant, we have seen a drop for sure. We have had some guests that still come through, so we are depending on our local customers right now. I’ll say this past weekend was pretty healthy, but as of today we would probably be close to a 40 percent drop-off in sales.

“We are going to wait and see, and hope for the best. We are just sort of learning and trying to figure it out now, because every day it’s something new. We don’t plan to close down, and we don’t plan to lay-off staff. That’s not the plan. We have about 60 staff members for the entire property, and a little over 50 staff members are exclusively for the restaurant.”

Prudence Thompson, the Green Parrot restaurant chain’s operations manager, added: “Revenue has decreased by 40 percent. We have not necessarily decided to close down or change our operating hours. This is for both of our outlets, the one on Paradise Island and on East Bay Street.

She said the restaurants have altered their sanitation protocols, and said: “We have already been doing a mass sanitation and cleaning exercises every hour on the hour.”

However, Christian Newton, general manager of the Studio Café, added: “I’m not having any impact from the coronavirus fall-out. I have mainly locals and not really any tourists. We are located far out on the western end of the island.”