Hello everyone, and happy Saturday! So if you happen to be on island at the moment or of you are an avid reader of everything St. John, you may have noticed that several of our most popular bars are currently closed. The Windmill Bar, Maho Crossroads and Lovango Rum Bar have all been closed due to the health department. Now before you read too much into that, they did not close because they are dirty. They were forced to close due to the health department’s ever-changing and nonsensical requirements.
Let’s start with the basics. In order to operate a restaurant in the USVI, you need a health inspection. This is completely valid. The problem is that there is not list of requirements, and those requirements change as often as we change our underwear. The health department will show up and will fine these restaurants and often close them due to a requirement that is unknown, not written down and never relayed to the business. For example, a fine dining restaurant was told a few years back that all of its servers had to wear hairnets or baseball hats while working. Years ago, the women at Woody’s were told they had to have sleeves and not tank tops while working. Now, have you ever seen anyone at Extra Virgin or The Terrace in a ball cap, for example? Have you ever seen a female server at Woody’s not in a tank top? Of course not, and that’s because that requirement was only valid for a day or two. But it was enough to fine the restaurants at the time.
One of the three restaurants closed currently was fined because nutmeg spilled onto a bar top and made it look dirty. That’s what happens when you make drinks! That was one of the many ridiculous requirements that force these places to close. And what happens next? Businesses lose out on money. The staff loses out on money. The government loses out on taxes. And you all miss out on your vacation.
Now when these restaurants close, it’s not like the health inspectors will come back the next time to make certain the latest requirements have been addressed. They come back when they get to it, which could be days. So right now, you have three extremely busy bars on St. John who are simply waiting for a health inspector to show back up. Will that happen today? Tomorrow? Monday? No one knows.
Now let’s talk about the infamous health card. In order to work in a restaurant on St. John or to handle any sort of food or beverage in the Virgin Islands, you have to give a fecal sample to the health department. Apparently they are checking for worms. Once that’s tested and you pass (none of us believe it’s actually even tested, especially considering that we know people who have provide a sample from a pet), you are given a health card. This, too, is difficult to attain as the machine that prints out the actual health cards is often broken. So there is yet another hurdle that these restaurants face, one which is often unattainable. You can’t work without a health card, but the government cannot always issue health cards. See how all of this works?
I apologize for today’s rant, but these closures really fire me up. As someone who lives with a man who has managed restaurants on St. John for over 20 years. I can say firsthand that the majority of these closures over the years have nothing to do with food safety, contamination, pest control or anything of the sort. If restaurants closed for those sort of things, I would totally understand and support it. But, again, these places are closing due to the health department’s ever-changing and nonsensical requirements.
I guess I will end today’s rant here. Hopefully our friends over at the Windmill, Maho and Lovango can reopen sooner than later. Have a great weekend everyone.