May 12, 2020 — Natalie Gerdes’ family owns Casamento’s, the Uptown restaurant famous for its oysters and tile decor. The restaurant switched to takeout when the coronavirus stay-at-home order began in mid-March, but it has seen a 75% drop in business, Gerdes said.
“We’re just trying to get by,” she said. “Some days are a struggle.”
Few people are ordering raw or chargrilled oysters these days, and those who do are mostly regulars, Gerdes said. “I’m sure that a lot people would prefer to eat them here and have the experience,” she said.
More than almost any other food, oysters tend to be consumed in restaurants. And that means oyster farmers are struggling mightily to keep their businesses afloat while restaurants are closed or running at limited capacity. The pandemic is just the latest blow inflicted on an industry already reeling from environmental disasters.
Most Louisiana oyster farmers lease areas of the sea floor from the state. The farmers plant “cultch” — a hard material for oyster larvae to latch onto — and harvest the oysters when they mature.
The crop is sold to processors, who sell to distributors, who sell to restaurants. When the restaurant industry screeched to a halt, processors froze the product they had on hand. With freezers full of oysters, they stopped buying.