As the D.C. area inches closer to reopening, some restaurants are taking major steps to keep customers safe.
When you walk into Tony and Joe’s, Nick’s Riverside Grill or Ivy City Smokehouse in D.C. when they reopen, you will have the option to sign-up to be notified if someone dining or working at the same time is later found to have been exposed to the coronavirus.
“So if somebody reports that they were exposed to COVID, and they were a patron and/or employee of our restaurant, we will be able to get in touch with all of the individual customers who might have been exposed to it,” said Gregory Casten, an owner of those three restaurants.
He said the restaurants are making several changes, including turning bathroom stalls into individual rooms, adding an outside hand-washing station and putting hand sanitizer on every table.
He said now he’s ready to open.
“We just want a shot at making money, that’s it,” Casten said. “We are definitely an industry in pain right now, and we hope that the people are understanding that every restaurant is out there trying to do its best to present a safe and comfortable environment.”
Tricia Hudson, an owner of Hudson Coastal in Fulton, Maryland, is currently doing curbside carryout at her restaurant but is preparing for when in-person dining is allowed.
“Right now, there’s a lot of unknown,” Hudson said.
She said if customers have to be 6 feet apart, her dining area will be reduced by 50% and her bar will have only 10 seats instead of 25. She’s looking into expanding outdoor seating.
“We are going to ask our landlords if they wouldn’t mind us stretching it out a little bit farther,” Hudson said.
She has had to reduce her staff from about 80 employees to 25. Hudson said the tips have been generous during the time they’ve done carryout, but she still remains unsure of the future.
“The one thing that we’re going to anticipate is a lot of uncertainty on behalf of our guests,” she said.
She said that they will be reopening with a limited menu and that prices might be higher on some items by about 50 cents up to $1.
“We’re praying for patience. We really hope people are understanding and patient, considering we’re going into this blind currently,” Hudson said.
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- Northern Virginia prepares for cautious reopening
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Looking for more information? D.C., Maryland and Virginia are each releasing more data every day. Visit their official sites here: Virginia | Maryland | D.C.
