As the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services continues to roll out their coronavirus vaccination plan, Group 2 is currently open, allowing people 65 and older and all health care workers to receive inoculations.

Group 3 will include frontline essential workers, which the CDC defines as “workers who are in sectors essential to the functioning of society and who are at substantially higher risk for exposure to COVID-19.”

While workers in food processing and agriculture, as well as grocery store workers, fall under Group 3 of the plan, Jessica Loeper, chief communications officer for New Hanover County, said that under the current state guidelines, restaurant workers fall under Group 4, as “essential workers not yet vaccinated.”

The National Restaurant Association has for months been advocating for federal and state officials to classify food service employees as one of the groups that should get early access to the COVID-19 vaccine, arguing that these individuals be deemed essential workers because they risk their personal safety to provide Americans with meals.
 
“We continue to suggest that, as an important industry, those workers should be part of the food supply-chain workforce that gets vaccinated early,” said Tom Bene, CEO of the National Restaurant Association, during a virtual Restaurant Recovery Summit presentation. “Whether that happens in every state or every situation, we don’t know yet.”  

Across the state and locally, the rollout of the vaccine has restaurant owners questioning what their policy will be regarding staff inoculations. Several local owners declined to comment on how they would address it, saying they felt the issue was too divisive.

Evans Trawick, who owns and operates three Cape Fear Seafood Company locations locally and has a franchise location in Raleigh, said he plans to encourage his staff to get vaccinated as soon as they are able.

Trawick said he also plans to incentivize his employees to ensure a higher vaccination rate among his team.
 
“I will stop short of making it a requirement for now, but hope that the push to keep everyone safe and added financial incentive to get vaccinated will be enough to ensure a high level of participation among our team,” Trawick said.
 
Tony Di Norcia, owner of four Beach Bagels locations, said he is ready to put the pandemic behind him and plans to strongly encourage his staff to get vaccinated.

“I’m a strong proponent of the vaccine and I’m ready to take it myself as soon as I’m able,” Di Norcia said. “My wife and in-laws are frontline workers in the medical field and they’ve already been vaccinated so whenever they’re ready for me, I’m ready to get it.”

Slice of Life owner Ray Worrell, who operates four locations throughout the Wilmington area, voiced his encouragement for the community to get vaccinated, but said he had not yet decided what position he would take in terms of employees and was still researching options and consulting colleagues within the industry.
 
A recent Restaurant Business survey of operators revealed that only 20% of restaurant employers plan to require their staff be vaccinated, with more than half of them indicating they’ll make exceptions for religious or health reasons.

An equal percentage said they definitely will require the inoculation.

Among the remaining majority, 19.7% say they’re still considering what their vaccination policy will be, while 39% said they’ll request that every employee get the vaccine but will leave compliance up to each individual.

Among those who don’t intend to require vaccines, 60% subscribed to the belief that “the decision to be vaccinated is a personal one that every staff member should make on their own.”

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