Restaurant operators around the country are being forced to change gears yet again, as a “second wave” of coronavirus cases continues and a new round of local restrictions are put in place.
Some operators have created elaborate outdoor seating arrangements, others have ramped up their takeout and delivery capabilities, and some have decided to simply shut their doors for the winter.
In some areas, such as in much of California, both indoor and outdoor dining have been banned as capacity diminished in local hospitals. The restrictions have prompted resistance among some restaurants that have continued to operate despite risking fines and the loss of their licenses.
“In the past, we had [restaurant operators] say, ‘We don’t want to be locked down, but we’ll go along with it,’” said Jack Li, founder of restaurant research firm Datassential, in a webinar last week. “Now some of them are just saying, ‘We won’t do it.’”
In other areas of the country where outdoor dining is still allowed, many operators are going to great lengths to make their patios and sidewalk cafes as much like indoor spaces as possible. Restaurants across the Midwest have been deploying igloo-style dining in their outdoor spaces. Fiya, an Israeli restaurant in Chicago, deployed seven plastic bubbles on its patio, each of which seats up to six customers.
“It’s getting nippy outside but that doesn’t mean you have to live off delivery or, heaven forbid, cook for yourself,” the company said on its website promoting the bubbles.
The bubbles are equipped with electric heaters, and customers can also purchase mylar blankets for $1. Customers can reserve a bubble for a minimum order of $50 on weeknights or $100 on weekends.
Fiya’s parent company, which also operates a cafe and a sandwich shop, said it planned to resume indoor dining as soon as restrictions are lifted, with strict sanitization procedures and a filtered air circulation system.
Other operators have expanded their delivery and takeout capabilities, either through modifications to their existing facilities or through partnerships with ghost kitchens that churn out orders to third-party delivery firms such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, and DoorDash.
Muscle Maker Grill, a chain specializing in better-for-you dishes including lean-protein bowls and smoothies, recently opened its first delivery-only kitchen in the Long Island City area of Queens, New York. The restaurant is located inside a shared kitchen space developed by REEF Neighborhood Kitchens, which operates similar facilities in locations throughout the country.
Michael Roper, CEO of Muscle Maker Grill, said he expects demand for delivery to remain strong beyond the pandemic.
“This is a trend that we expect to continue, not only due to the current business climate and desire to social distance, but also as consumers grow comfortable with the breadth, quality, and speed at which offerings are made available,” he said.
Research firm Euromonitor estimates that the U.S. is currently home to about 1,500 ghost kitchens, and more are coming online every day.
Wow Bao, the Chicago-based restaurant operator specializing in Asian bowls and dumplings, has taken a slightly different approach to the ghost kitchen concept by expanding its brand into existing restaurant kitchens as a delivery-only menu. It now offers its bao and other fare through more than 100 kitchens of other restaurants, giving those operators a popular delivery item they can offer to increase their revenues.
"Although we didn't envision this initiative as a response to the COVID-19 crisis, we are proud to say our dark kitchen platform is assisting operators to help pay rent and employ staff in order to survive this difficult time," said Geoff Alexander, Wow Bao’s president and CEO, in a statement.
Some restaurants have decided that as the spread of the virus accelerates, the safest option for their restaurant is to shut down completely.
Queen City Hospitality Group, which operates six restaurants and bars in Cincinnati, announced in late November that it was concerned about the growing spread of the virus in its community and would shut down all of its businesses until February. The company also lamented the mental and emotional toll on its staff of working under adverse conditions in 2020.
“With COVID numbers surging out of control and the lack of any leadership from our state and national governments, we have decided to take matters into our own hands and do what is best for our staff and our businesses,” the company said in a statement.
In New York City, where indoor dining had been allowed for the past several months at 25 percent of capacity, the state has now shut down indoor dining again, effective today. Many venues there had enhanced their safety protocols to ensure the health and confidence of their workers and guests.
“We are lucky to be in NYC, where the great majority of our customers remember last spring and are very good at wearing masks and staying far apart as they eat,” said Anna Castellani, CEO of Local Culture Management, which manages the DeKalb Market Hall In Brooklyn, in an interview shortly before the new restrictions were put in place. “We are also blessed with a very large space that allows for a lot of distance between tables, high ceilings, and substantial fresh air flow.”
The multi-restaurant venue implemented a check-in point where hosts check guests’ temperature, record contact tracing information, and assign tables. It removed most tables to keep guests spread out, and counter seats have been restricted to allow only one or two customers at a time.
“The check-in also gives us an amazing opportunity to connect with everyone visiting, which I believe makes our visitors feel more taken care of,” Castellani said.
She noted that since DeKalb had reopened at 25 percent capacity, it did not know of any COVID-19 cases that originated there.
Castellani said the biggest challenge has been for the vendors, who have seen a 75 percent decrease in customers.
“It was also hard for them to watch the larger retailers continue to do huge business within the building while everyone else was shut down completely,” she said. “Getting that customer back into the habit of coming in once or even twice daily will take a long time.”
A few tenants have been unable to remain open with the reduced volumes, she noted.
“We have been as flexible as possible financially in order to support this amazing space” said Castellani, “and we are very fortunate to have signed a number of new vendors that will open this spring and summer.”
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