The first nano-brewery in Eastport has finally opened its… windows?
Forward Brewing, a 28-seat restaurant and taproom, has opened, though only for carryout — a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Owners Camden and Claire Bowdren have begun serving food and drinks out of their side windows to adhere to city and county guidelines limiting restaurants to carryout and curbside pick-up.
The Bowdren’s, like many restaurant owners in the city, are facing uncertainty about what a prolonged closure could mean for their business and are eager to hear the next steps local leaders are taking.
Following the guidance from Gov. Larry Hogan, County Executive Steuart Pittman and Mayor Gavin Buckley announced that restaurants would be permitted to offer outdoor dining with certain restrictions starting at 5 p.m. Friday.
Effective Friday at 5 p.m., restaurants will be allowed to reopen for outdoor dining as long as patrons are seated at least six feet away from each other (excluding family members) and establishments maintain additional sanitation practices. Restaurants must screen their staff for fevers and require the use of masks and gloves. The governor also encouraged local jurisdictions to close streets to allow restaurants to use the space for tables, specifically naming West Street and Main Street in Annapolis as candidates.
“We have been working closely with the County to align our reopening sequence and objectives,” Buckley said. “We ask our restaurants and retail establishments to work within the guidelines while observing recommended public health practices including hand washing, face coverings and physical distancing.”
Forward Brewing, located on Fourth Street, has an adjacent parking lot that Claire Bowdren said could be used to serve guests. Instead of standard seating, she has considered placing tables for drinks and food and a picnic area where families could put down a blanket to sit and eat.
“I feel like we have a little more leeway in those flexible arrangements because we are a brewery restaurant and not strictly just a restaurant,” she said. “I think it’s more of a relaxed atmosphere in terms of people being OK with standing or bringing your own blanket to sit on.”
After initially planning on a mid-April opening, the Bowdrens have spent the last several weeks working toward a soft-opening on May 16.
“It was a little challenging,” she said. “We were really just eager to open in any capacity and felt pretty good that even only being able to do carryout during the pandemic that there was still an appetite for the product.”
Some restaurants are better prepared than others to expand into parking lots, sidewalks and streets, said Luna Blu owner Erin Dryden, who has served Italian food on West Street for 20 years.
Dryden said outdoor dining during the pandemic will be in some ways similar to the Dinner Under the Stars event held on West Street from May to September, though it could be a learning experience for some restaurants who are hosting outdoor dining for the first time.
“We’re all used to this,” Dryden said of her fellow West Street businesses. “Of course, there’s going to be some changes with safety issues now, but the actual dining outside, we have a lot of experience with because of our other events.”
Marshall Weston, president and CEO of Restaurant Association of Maryland, said restaurants are ready to implement outdoor dining immediately.
“It’s our hope that we can get as many local, city and municipalities on board as we can to expand footprints to generate revenue, bring people on payroll and get people back to work,” said Weston, whose organization represents 3,000 restaurants in the state. He went further saying restaurants are ready right now to implement dine-in service.
Of the 11,000 restaurants in Maryland about 45% are closed and about 25% are projected to close permanently, Weston said.
Some Annapolis locations have already decided to close up shop because of the virus. Ahh! Coffee in Eastport shuttered this week, posting on social media that they couldn’t find a solution for reopening that met their needs.
The Greene Turtle location in Annapolis has also closed permanently. CEO Geo Concepcion said the closure was not entirely related to the pandemic, pointing to the store’s franchise agreement nearing its end.
The 13 Greene Turtle locations Concepcion owns throughout the region are all currently operating and making about 45% of their typical sales. They will be “rocking and rolling” on Friday when outdoor dining begins, Concepcion said. The Annapolis location is a franchise and not owned by Concepcion.
“If we can get over the hump and add some significant sales, that helps a whole lot,” he said.
Storm Bros. Ice Cream, a City Dock mainstay, shuttered in April but has since reopened, said owner Sveinn Storm.
The ice cream shop has done about a third of its normal business in the last two weeks, Storm said, adding that he’s got his bills paid through June and should be able to stay open through at least September
“Is it painful? Yeah. Do I think I will survive? Yeah, there is some question,” he said. “Hopefully we will. You just change how you live.”
Baltimore Sun reporters Pam Wood and Luke Broadwater contributed to this story.
