Former reigning queen of Beverly Hills Lisa Vanderpump was on Watch What Happens Live earlier this week, and discussed with host Andy Cohen the impact that coronavirus has had on her restaurants. As we’ve all seen throughout the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules, Lisa owns four restaurants in Los Angeles, Villa Blanca, SUR, PUMP and TomTom.
All of Lisa’s restaurants are now closed due to the novel coronavirus. As a result, SURvers, bartenders, and other staff unemployed. Though it’s hard to imagine Lisa’s restaurants not bouncing back, Lisa’s concerns are completely valid given the current air of uncertainty the country faces. But for the sake of PUMP’S Pinky Happy Hour, we hope her restaurants survive too.
Lisa Vanderpump co-owns TomTom with Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval, who both took action to support their staff by donating their Cameo earnings to the TomTom staff and matching the amount up to $10,000. As for the rest of Lisa’s establishments, it’s unclear if employees are receiving any financial relief during the Covid-19 closures.
As reported by Page Six, Lisa shared with Andy Cohen “It’s not just our business. It’s our life as well. And so many people have worked for us for years. I mean, now they’re all on unemployment. But just the whole fact that it’s just everything gone right now. We can’t go in there. I can’t see what’s going on. It’s been devastating. It’s been really sad, I have to say.”
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Lisa makes it clear that everyone is on unemployment. This means they are not collecting any payments from their famed prior work establishments. She also made no allusion to any of her restaurants offering take out or delivery services. This is an initiative many bars and restaurants are taking to serve customers and still offer work to employees.
Lisa “Throw me to the wolves and I shall return leading the pack” Vanderpump will have that tagline put to the test when the quarantine lifts. Not only will she be challenged with resurrecting her businesses in the wake of a global pandemic; she’ll need to bring back her staff too.
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Lisa also expressed to Andy that she felt a lot of businesses would not be able to bounce back from the extensive closures, sharing “Hopefully we’ll be along with Lance [Bass, who joined her on the Watch What Happens Live episode and owns Rocco’s WeHo], one of the businesses that survives this because a lot of people won’t and it’s a real worry.” A more expansive worry than whether or not we’ll be able to sip on Strawberrini Martinis this summer at Sur or not, but a worry nevertheless.
On a positive note, one of her establishments that doesn’t seem to be too affected by the novel coronavirus is Vanderpump Dogs. The Instagram account reports that adoptions are still underway.
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Reality Tea recommends that all readers comply with CDC guidelines and remain as isolated as possible during this urgent time. Visit the Centers for Disease Control at CDC.gov or the World Health Organization at Who.int for the latest information on the coronavirus and learn what you can do to stop the spread.
The US Government is providing Tax Relief for you due to the economic effects of the coronavirus. H&R Block helps you find out what tax savings you qualify for by clicking here.
TELL US- DO YOU THINK ALL OF HER ESTABLISHMENTS WILL HAVE THE RESILIENCE TO OPEN BACK UP IN FULL SWING? SHOULD LISA BE RESPONSIBLE FOR GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND TO PAY HER EMPLOYEES THROUGHOUT THE CORONAVIRUS CLOSURE?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
