Coronavirus looms over local restaurants, slowing business

At Chez TJ in Mountain View, chef Jarad Gallagher saw an unprecedented drop in Saturday reservations: from 40 to 18 in a number of hours.

Vina Enoteca in Palo Alto is estimating a $50,000 loss from a number of private event cancellations — and is expecting more next week.

Chef Chu's in Los Altos has watched dine-in business drop by 15%, mostly from corporate customers, but takeout is up.

The owner of Palo Alto Sichuan restaurant Taste is considering shutting down for good amidst weeks of declining dine-in, delivery and catering sales.

As fear about the risk of the coronavirus spreads, many, though not all, local restaurants are seeing an impact on their bottom lines, especially due to canceled private events and large group reservations — particularly by local tech companies, owners said. Not all are explicitly connected to the coronavirus, but owners see a link with the timing of the spread of the virus, particularly in Santa Clara County, where more than 30 cases have been confirmed.