Restaurants Scramble for Solutions to Restrictive COVID Mandates

Even in the best of times, restaurants often operate under such thin profit margins that many  fail, but the addition of onerous COVID restrictions — combined with a government-generated shrunken labor market — have forced eateries to get creative with more than their menus to stay alive.

California has enacted some of the most draconian pandemic rules currently affecting the industry, but restauranteur and celebrity chef Andrew Gruel — the founder, CEO, and executive chef of Huntington Beach-based seafood restaurant franchise Slapfish — has repeatedly managed to beat the odds and is even helping his competitors do the same.