Dear USHG Community, 

We are all navigating uncharted territory with no preexisting roadmap or compass except for how we do business: nothing matters more than the safety and health of our team members, guests, and communities.

With all that we now know about federal, state, and city-wide mandates, as well as the science that has provided evidence urging everyone to reduce non-essential social contact, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily close our restaurants until we believe it is safe to re-open. 

Of course, we SO wish we could do business as usual, keeping all of our people working and offering the comfort of our cooking and hospitality to our guests. But it’s unequivocally necessary and responsible that we do our part to keep everyone safe. For those of us who find purpose and passion in bringing people together, we must confront the reality that togetherness may be a threat to the health and safety of our community at this time. 

We will use this temporary period of closure to explore how we can best support the livelihoods of our employees and our broader hospitality community until the situation normalizes. Already, we have made several commitments to our employees. Despite our closures and the total loss of our revenues, we will continue to pay employees scheduled to work through the pay-week. We will cover employee premium contributions for medical insurance for those who are currently enrolled, for the next month. We will continue to cover costs associated with the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of coronavirus for any colleagues who don’t have health insurance. Finally, we are providing free mental health support for employees who need help. 

People are the heart of the hospitality industry, and our closures will present our businesses (and our entire industry) with serious financial challenges. If you wish to help people whose livelihoods are directly impacted by lost shifts, now is the time. You can buy a gift card to your favorite restaurant, to use when the situation normalizes. You can patronize delivery and takeout offerings from restaurants that have remained open. You can donate to organizations like City Harvest and Share Our Strength who are working hard to feed those for whom lost jobs and school closures have created an urgent need for feeding. 

This story will end at some point and while we have no idea when that will be, we are relying upon today’s difficult decisions and collective sacrifices to put our company and our businesses in the strongest possible position to pick up where we left off as cherished places for people to be together and to receive our brand of hospitality.  

We will continue to lead with our hearts and minds, and cannot wait to welcome you home to our places as soon as this is all behind us. 

Take care, 



Danny Meyer • CEO