Long, Hard Times Ahead for Restaurants, Says Gastronomy, Culinary Arts & Wine Studies Alum

Fernanda Tapia (MET’09), a Gastronomy alum who also holds certificates from the Culinary Arts and Wine Studies programs, is former co-owner and executive chef at Comedor, a Chilean-American bistro in the heart of Newton, MA. As an experienced industry hand and executive, she knows well the challenges restaurants are facing during the ongoing pandemic, and so was invited to help shed light on an industry in flux with Bostonia, Boston University’s Alumni Magazine.

The sale of Tapia’s restaurant, which had been in process before the coronavirus shutdown, was finalized in late June. While the future of the restaurant industry is uncertain, for now she sees the sporadic unreliability of revenue as what puts today’s businesses most at risk.

“A lot of restaurant owners are hoping they can scrape by until things return to normal, and no one knows when that’s going to happen,” Tapia told Bostonia. “So, it’s a matter of—can you hold out for two months? Six months? Maybe a year?”