Coronavirus has thrown the Los Angeles restaurant industry into a tailspin. The city had already restricted establishments to take-out and delivery, when on Thursday Gov. Gavin Newsom made those rules statewide.
Many restaurateurs in L.A.'s Chinatown got a taste weeks ago of what was to come.
Joe Liu, co-owner of Golden Lake Eatery, said business started plummeting at the beginning of March as many of his Asian patrons began to self-isolate.
Community leaders also say xenophobia kept non-Asian customers away from Chinatown for fears of contracting COVID-19.
Whatever the reason, Liu went about 20 to 30 customers at his Cambodian Chinese restaurant pre-coronavirus to a handful of orders a day, if he's lucky.
Yesterday he'd been open five hours with only one order for delivery.
“Every day has been bad!” Liu said in Mandarin.
Liu’s story is now that of almost every restaurant in Los Angeles.
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