Bankers Hill Bar and Restaurant Announces Temporary Closure

San Diego County could be poised to fall back into the purple, or widespread, tier as soon as Tuesday when the state releases its latest data. The backwards move would prompt the re-closing of indoor dining for restaurants, an order that the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is considering suing the state over and one that several area restaurants have already pledged to defy.

Faced with ever-changing pandemic restrictions and its concern for the safety of its staff and guests, prominent local eatery Bankers Hill Bar + Restaurant announced yesterday on Facebook that it has decided to temporarily suspend business after service on Saturday, September 26.

Co-owner Terryl Gavre, who with chef-partner Carl Schroeder also runs Market Del Mar, told Eater that it’s been exhausting to react at a moment’s notice to the see-saw of opening and closing of dining rooms, saying, “Under the current government restrictions we cannot do enough business to cover our expenses so it only makes sense to cut all costs and protect our restaurant. Even at 50% capacity it doesn’t work. Why stay open at a loss each month to only go through all of your working capital and then close? At least this way we have a fighting chance. I explain it this way; our hands are tied behind our backs and we cannot play a good offense, so we are playing a good defense.”

Gavre also shared the following statement explaining more about their decision to pause operations and reevaluate:

Considering that there will be continued and changing Government restrictions on our industry for the foreseeable future and knowing that it is impossible for us to run a profitable business in this climate, we have decided to temporarily “hibernate” our beloved Bankers Hill Bar + Restaurant.

We believe that rather than operate at a loss, our best business decision is to hunker-down, button-up our dining room, and sit this out for a bit until we can see what is on the other side of this thing.

Once restrictions are lifted or lightened and we can conduct business in a way that will be sustainable and safe for our guests and employees we will reopen our dining room.

This is actually the best possible situation we could be in at this very unpredictable and challenging time. In the meantime, we will be busy working on our model and adapting to these very challenging times for our industry.