The COVID-19 pandemic and Illinois’s subsequent stay-at-home order, now extended through at least the end of May, has forced Chicago’s independent restaurants and bars into survival mode. But even those that are able to reopen once the order is lifted could face a new, uncertain reality that might involve dining rooms at half-capacity, servers in masks, or temperature checks for customers at the door. It’s a scenario that Jeanne Roeser, owner of beloved 24-year-old breakfast and brunch restaurant Toast, couldn’t imagine in her cozy, friendly space. On Wednesday, she announced in a public letter posted to Facebook that Toast, with locations in Bucktown and Lincoln Park, won’t reopen after the order is lifted.

“I just couldn’t envision it, having half my tables gone, having people come in and ordering through an app for less contact,” Roeser said. “It felt so wrong and I thought, Toast is one of my babies. It’s one of my kids, because I had it alongside my kids. I thought, I would like to go out with people saying, ‘I remember getting engaged there, I remember my first date there, or my baby’s first trip out of the hospital.’ Not some kind of scary, sad, post-apocalyptic brunch situation.”

There are also permanent changes coming to Wicker Park beer bar Links Taproom, according to a Facebook post Thursday. Links will not reopen at 1559 N. Milwaukee Avenue, where it has operated for six years, ownership wrote, but the business will still pop up occasionally around Chicago. “This is not the end for us, it is simply a new beginning,” the post reads. “Unfortunately, with the current situation, we cannot say for certain when or where we will see you again, but, rest assured, we WILL see you all again.”

Heartbroken fans flooded Toast’s and Links’s posts with comments expressing their well-wishes and detailing their favorite memories of the respective establishments. While Roeser is mourning the loss of Toast, she still can’t imagine herself in any other industry. “In the restaurant business, there is something breaking and something going wrong every day,” she said. “This is the thing that I’m good at, this is what I’m meant to do. I can’t imagine not having that in my life, and I’ll find a way to do it, but right now I’m taking a deep breath and figuring it out.”

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