Photos by Michael Piazza

Tony Maws is the chef and owner of Craigie on Main, a Francocentric restaurant in Cambridge, known for his attention to detail and passion for local, seasonal and organic ingredients. When the terms “unprecedented,” “shelter in place,” “pivot” and “PPP loans” became part of our lexicon, Tony saw the handwriting on the wall. He knew things weren’t going back to normal any time soon and that the restaurants were going to be hit hard. He and a few like-minded chef friends, including Jody Adams, Ken Oringer, Jamie Bissonnette, Michael Leviton and Bessie King, wrote a letter to Governor Baker asking for assistance and that was when the Massachusetts Restaurants United (MRU) was born. He is now the director of the MRU (as well as its communications team), a restaurant owner, husband, father and cycling enthusiast.

EDIBLE BOSTON: How are you doing?
TONY MAWS: [[laughs]] I don’t know how to answer that. We are really lucky, but I won’t lie: It is not easy right now. It’s not going to be for a while. We are strong, I have a lot of talent around me and really supportive guests who are vested in what we do.

EB: Tell us about what’s going on with the MRU and how it came together. What is its mission? Who are the key players?
TM: When COVID became a reality in Boston and we all closed so quickly—that was our choice—there was no real certainty about anything. And there really isn’t now. We clearly recognized that this was going to be bad and we didn’t know what it meant yet. We were having trouble getting answers to questions about rent, insurance, unemployment payments, loans… all sorts of things. There were a group of us asking each other, “What are you doing?” “Who do you ask?” It was all happening really quickly. And then [Governor] Baker shut the city and state down. We got together and we wrote this letter. To Governor Baker. We quickly got a bunch of signatures from chefs we knew were also trying to get some support. We had a bunch of questions for our state government and let them know that we needed help and answers now and that we would need help to reopen.

EB: Restaurants are different from many businesses and a lot of what they do is not seen by the diner. Was that being overlooked?
TM: Obviously so many businesses, so many industries, so many people are deeply, deeply affected by this—I don’t want to put anything on a scale of who’s better or worse off. I will say restaurants are uniquely situated in a couple of different ways.

To be clear, this isn’t, “woe is me.” We all chose to do this, but we don’t have the cash reserves that other businesses do. We’re not the type of business that can just close its doors for a little while and push pause. Most people don’t understand the inner workings of restaurants and they think it’s a very simple cash business. You come in, you sit down at your table, I give you the food, you pay me and you leave. But there’s the rent and the insurance that we pay. We employ full-time people. We pay real estate tax. Sales tax. Mass meals tax. The waste removal company. The plumbers. The electricians. The graphic designers. Thepaper goods company. I feel like any sort of recovery should also involve restaurants because people need to eat. We’re a service. And restaurants are part of the community.

EB: So you wrote the letter... and then what?
TM: We wrote this letter saying, “Hey, you know, we employ a boatload of people and we’re the ones who, recognizing the health concerns, closed our doors without even being asked. We want to be recognized that we can be part of an economic stimulus, once things open again. We have the ability to hire people quickly. And we support the purveyors who bring us fish, vegetables and dry goods. And the people who deliver the ingredients. We’re buying products from multiple vendors, keeping them in business, paying them out.”

EB: So how do a small band of chefs make real change? Is there a long-term goal?
TM: We are learning how to advocate for ourselves because nobody else is going to do it for us. We quickly realized that this was going to be a slog. This is politics, real politics. This isn’t a “Let’s do a quick fundraiser in the bar” type of thing. This is going to be a long battle. We got a lot of the advice early on and things are still percolating in a bunch of different ways throughout the country.

EB: Is the MRU working with the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) or other groups?
TM: Let’s examine the landscape, because we don't want to be stepping on other people’s toes. We have to divide and conquer here. Now that the IRC is clearly focused on the federal, we can focus on the local. We are very invested in their work and in constant communication with them—just working in parallel. We’re acting as the Massachusetts arm of the IRC, so to speak. They are working on policy and giving us clear action. We’re totally aligned with the IRC.

I want to point out that there is also the MRA [Massachusetts Restaurant Association] and we absolutely see the value in what the MRA provides, but we don’t feel that small, independent restaurants have the same needs that chains and the bigger operations do. We’re not trying to be in any way isolated from any other group. Right now this is an industry that needs help so that we can recover and get back to work, back to a place where we can bring back our employees.

EB: What are some of the hurdles? What is the MRU asking for specifically?
TM: We would like the state to give independently owned restaurants relief on payroll and meals taxes. We want them to extend the moratorium on evictions until the end of the year.

EB: I have heard a discussion about the landlords and the need for them to ease up on payment demands, but some landlords have mortgages, too. And we don’t want the banks and the government owning everything if everyone starts defaulting. There is a clear domino effect.
TM: If we’re actually all in this together, we have to partner with our landlords. They need us. Who’s going to open a brand new restaurant? They are not going to like who is coming in. My landlord needs me and I need him. We want to establish a line of communication with groups that represent landlords, but we also want to establish a rent relief tax, like a tax credit for landlords and small businesses.

EB: What will the rollout and reopening look like?
TM: This is tough—there are a lot of opinions here, like whether we should be opening at all. Is it safe to do outdoor dining? Should we have people in the building? Either way, when you do the math you’re still operating at a very small fraction of your normal business. All of our models are based on our rent and projected revenue that is not going to exist. It doesn’t matter if you are creating fine dining or creating delicious tacos: You’re not going to be able to pay your rent.

EB: Can you come back with a full staff?
TM: There are so many considerations and I don’t even know what order I’d put them in. No one is even remotely close to their full staff—staffing is a real issue. Transportation is an issue. PPE is an issue. Unemployment is an issue. Health insurance is an issue.

EB: Say everyone is able to reopen in whatever capacity, how do you plan and how will the new economy play into all of this?
TM: I don’t know. I’m trying to buy food and plan my menu. And I’m literally this throwing darts blindfolded. One week Wednesday is a busy day—next week, it isn’t. We used to know within a fraction how to order. Harvard graduation means this; Memorial Day means that. It’s like drinking out of a fire hose these days.

EB: A lot of people are talking about mental health issues. Restaurant work is mentally and physically demanding, not to mention the creative squeeze it puts on you.
TM: The mental health discussion has become a more prominent and a louder conversation, which is terrific. Within the industry a lot of us are walking this tightrope and every day is a battle. Every day. We’re not sure what we would do for revenue. Whether it will be the same every day. After 12 weeks, people are just, “Holy shit, we’re tired. We’re done.” But, we’re not done. This is what we know. I think mental health issues are going to need to be addressed. And soon.

EB: What are some good things that have come out of this process and your work with the MRU?
TM: The camaraderie. There have been some really inspiring conversations with people that I have not been in the same circles with for far too long and these are just incredible, hardworking people. Speaking with and working with Jody [Adams] and Ken [Oringer] on a completely different level—each of us has been able to let our guard down, really talk. We’re sharing our numbers. We’re sharing our anxiety. We’re sharing our grief because we need each other. We’re sharing what works. On a lot of levels that is beautiful. Our customers have been awesome. Holy crap, just so supportive. I don’t mean just because they are spending. One of the hard parts about wearing these masks is you don’t get to see people smile.

This interview was edited for length and clarity and appeared in the Summer 2020 issue.