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Working through the pane: restaurant workers adapt to the shutdown

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Just three weeks ago, the restaurant scene in Philadelphia was alive and thriving. All the while, a public health crisis sat at its doorstep. Following a citywide shutdown on March 16, some of Philadelphia's most popular restaurants are now shuttered and barely recognizable behind boarded-up windows and stacked chairs and tables. The remaining eateries have shifted from hosting guests to handing off food through makeshift windows, enforcing the social distance code that goes against everything their industry once stood for, in what now feels like a lifetime ago. The workers at these windows share their stories on what its been like at the frontlines of a severed service industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jen Zimmerman, a bartender, poses for a portrait as she works the makeshift takeout window at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, PA on April 1, 2020. Zimmerman says she misses the culture of dining out and the sense of community. “Regulars will drop by to say hi and to ask how I’m doing. This is normally a place where people come for the atmosphere and to hang out,” she said.
Jen Zimmerman, a bartender, poses for a portrait as she works the makeshift takeout window at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, PA on April 1, 2020. Zimmerman says she misses the culture of dining out and the sense of community. “Regulars will drop by to say hi and to ask how I’m doing. This is normally a place where people come for the atmosphere and to hang out,” she said.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
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