Restaurants share creative plans for reopening dining rooms in Kentucky
Several Kentucky restaurants are cooking up plans to reopen dining room service this week
Several Kentucky restaurants are cooking up plans to reopen dining room service this week
Several Kentucky restaurants are cooking up plans to reopen dining room service this week
Several Kentucky restaurants are cooking up plans to reopen dining room service this week.
Restaurants across the Commonwealth can choose to restart in-person dining Friday with a 33% customer capacity limit.
One Nineteen West Main, in La Grange, has added disposable tablecloths and menus as it prepares to open its doors to customers at 11 a.m. Friday.
They’ve been serving food via curbside service for weeks.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Susan Hilbert, executive chef and general manager at the Oldham County restaurant.
In preparation for the reopening, the restaurant also added what Hilbert calls “COVID Blockers.”
The clear shower curtains hang from the ceiling as a barrier between dining tables, which are spaced six feet apart.
“I want them (customers) to feel comfortable to come back into our restaurant and enjoy our food,” she told WLKY’s Marvis Herring. “You can see that we're really working hard on making them feel comfortable.”
Staff members at One Nineteen West Main will wear face masks and face shields, Hilbert demonstrated.
Employees have also already printed hundreds of disposable menus.
There’s a sanitation station with disinfectant and personal protective equipment inside the dining room. Hilbert said they decided to use the plastic curtains because they are easy to wipe down with cleaners. They also allow servers to keep an eye on their guests.
While they help with service, their main purpose is protection. Especially since customers’ masks will be taken off.
“It's going to be really hard to eat your dinner with a mask on,” Hilbert said.
Dundee Tavern in Louisville added a 20-foot-by-60-foot tent in the parking lot.
Owner Alan Hincks told WLKY News that they’re adding outdoor seating as restaurants reopen to limited onsite customers Friday.
“We're going to have big menu boards printed up underneath the tent,” Hincks said. “Also, inside the restaurants we're also going to have the QR codes so you can scan and upload the menu on your phone.”
Hincks had partitions added inside, too.
In St. Matthews, the owner of Equus Jacks Bourbon Restaurant and Lounge is moving some of the tables and chairs out of the dining room to keep customers properly spaced apart.
“I definitely feel about 33% relief right now," said Jared Matthews, the owner.
Preparing for reopening is costing restaurants more money after months of reduced revenue.
“We've had to spend a lot more money on rubber gloves and masks and industrial cleaning -- the COVID spray, which we're getting done once a week,” said Jared Matthews, owner of the businesses.
Despite the coronavirus chaos, the owner plans to open a new lounge at the location Friday.
“Black Rabbit will be kind of a speakeasy kind of feel to it,” Matthews stated.
Some restaurant owners said that they will also have signage and markings on the ground to help promote social distancing.