Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Mayor Lenny Curry and Crowley Maritime Corp. CEO Tom Crowley to the 35-member Re-Open Florida Task Force Industry Working Group, which met via teleconference for the first time 10 a.m. April 21.
The group’s first meeting focused on how to begin reopening Florida’s tourism. The group heard from Dana Young, Visit Florida CEO; Tim Petrillo, co-founder and CEO of The Restaurant People; Jose Cil, CEO of Restaurant Brands International; John Tolbert, president and managing director of Boca Resort and Club; and Cody Kahn, owner of the Holiday Inn Resort.
Another local tie on the Re-Open Florida Task Force Industry Working Group is Port Tampa Bay CEO Paul Anderson, who served as CEO for the Jacksonville Port Authority for almost two years before joining the Tampa port in 2012.
The Re-Open Florida Executive Task Force met at 2 p.m. April 21 to review what was discussed in the 10 a.m. call on reopening the state’s tourism and restaurant industry. That task force includes AT&T Florida and Caribbean President Joe York, a Northeast Florida resident.
DeSantis opened both meetings saying that as Florida flattens the curve, it is important to start thinking about how and when to reopen the economy, and what it will look like when it does.
“If people can fight over toilet paper at Costco, then I’ve got to think there’s a way you can run a restaurant safely,” he said. “People are going to line up at the grocery store, then I’ve got to think there’s ways that you would be able to do some of the other things that we would do.”
Reopening the state will be gradual. Young said in the call that since tourism is one of the state’s largest and most affected industries, it is important to restart it to reopen the state’s economy.
Between March 1 and April 11, statewide hotel revenue was down more than $1.6 billion compared with last year.
Visit Florida already is planning marketing tactics to encourage people to visit the state and that it is safe to do so.
Depending on the severity of the virus in different parts of the state, the tactics could be tailored to market certain areas over others.
“Our goal is to ensure one of Florida’s most important industries, the tourism industry, is in the best possible position to recover,” Young said.
Petrillo, CEO of The Restaurant People, which operates 25 restaurants and lounges in Florida, said reopening restaurants to full capacity would need to be gradual and likely include extra safety measures.
Petrillo said his concerns include staffing his restaurants, dealing with the strain on the supply chain as food venues reopen simultaneously, how many people to allow in, how to protect employees and customers, and the ways to enforce those rules.
Cil is CEO of Restaurant Brands International, which owns Burger King, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Tim Hortons. He asked for a standard protocol for all restaurants to follow to ensure employees are healthy when coming into work.
Hotels would have to commit to increased sanitizing in rooms and restaurants. Amenities, such as the beach, would need to reopen for guests to have something to do during their stay, said Philip Goldfarb, president and COO of the Fontainebleau in Miami.
There are four Re-Open Florida Task Force meetings April 22. Three industry working groups will meet at 10 a.m.
One relates to tourism, construction, real estate, recreation, retail and transportation. Another focuses on education, information and technology, manufacturing, mining, utilities and wholesale. The third group will discuss agriculture, finance, government, health care, management and professional services.
The Executive Task Force will meet at 2 p.m. to review what was discussed in the morning’s meetings.
All meetings can be found on thefloridachannel.org.