Empty NYC restaurant during COVID-19

By David Joseph, Co-founder of DAVO Technologies

Prior to starting DAVO Automated Sales Tax, I owned a successful restaurant called the Blue Sky Cafe in northern New Jersey for many years. I want to tell you about my experience when we closed down for a short period after 9/11.

My restaurant was located in the town of Montclair, New Jersey, just 15 miles from the World Trade Center. After 9/11, we were forced to suddenly close for two weeks. Many people in our community including numerous customers were lost that day. My wife – who was seven months pregnant at the time – and I were supposed to be at the World Trade Center the morning of 9/12 for an event. Even if we had wanted to keep the restaurant open, the bridges and tunnels in and out of New York City were shut down, which cut off our primary sources of produce and fish. In short, 9/11 was a scary and tragic period for our town and we needed to shut down for a time.

Just prior to 9/11 we had put in a $10,000 order for new chairs, which we now couldn’t afford. We were in trouble. One of us came up with the idea to sell $100 gift certificates in exchange for getting the buyer’s name put onto one of the new chairs. The community rallied around this and we brought in $15,000 in short order, paying for the chairs and helping keep our restaurant afloat.

“When we reopened, it was one of the busiest weekends we had ever had.”

When we reopened, it was one of the busiest weekends we had ever had. People were desperate to get out of their homes and they had $100 gift cards to spend! Needless to say, due to the gift cards, we didn’t make a lot of money that weekend. The following days, however, were great and we pulled out of the hole that being closed for two weeks had put us into.

Obviously we are in a different situation with COVID-19. But I can tell you from experience that people desperately want to get back out in the world. They want to go to restaurants. They don’t want to cook anymore.

When the world reopens for business, customers will be lined up and ready to eat!


David Joseph, Co-founder of DAVO Technologies and former restaurant owner
David Joseph

David Joseph is the co-founder of DAVO Technologies (davosalestax.com) and a former restaurant owner. DAVO Automated Sales Tax integrates with many popular POS systems to set aside sales tax daily and file and pay it when it’s due, on-time and in-full. Put your sales tax on autopilot and never worry about it again. David can be reached at (888) 659-8432.