Gas Outage Caused Revenue Loss, Food Spoilage At Local Restaurant

NEWPORT, R.I. -- While Newport's gas outage is nearly over, local businesses are expected to feel economic impacts for months to come. The Bar and Bistro located at 282 Thames St., like so many others, is feeling the pinch after closing for an entire business week.

"We're open from Wednesday to Sunday, and were forced to close for all of those days last week," said Clayton Canning, the restaurant's general manager. "We'll be reopening this Wednesday."

The Bar and Bistro employs 23 employees: four bartenders, seven servers, eights cooks and back-of-house workers, one bar back, and one bus boy, all of whom missed out on a week of work.

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"We were lucky in the sense that we didn't have any structural damage," Clayton said. "We didn't have any froze pipes or anything like that, but we are feeling the effects of a week of lost business."

In addition, the restaurant was forced to throw out food due to spoilage, which further cuts into profits.

READ MORE: Financial Assistance Offered To Affected Newport Businesses

Canning said that, at this time, they don't plan on using the Commerce Department's emergency loan program, but they are working with their insurance company on reimbursements.

"We're still looking into our options," Clayton said. "We've also heard about some other programs for reimbursements, and are looking into that. We're trying to focus more on reimbursement over a loan at this point."

On Monday, National Grid also announced $500,000 in need-based grants for affected businesses as part of a partnership with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Rhode Island.

The Bar and Bistro will reopen for dinner service at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

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