Restaurant owners rejoice over increase in capacity
Indoor allotment doubles to 50% ahead of busy holiday
Metro Detroit restaurant owners got some welcome news Tuesday when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced she was hiking indoor capacity to 50%.
The current order limiting indoor restaurant and bar service to 25% has been in place since Feb. 1 and was due to expire on March 29.
Restaurant owners also were surprised because the increased capacity comes ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, typically a busy time for bars and restaurants.
Severely impacted by the pandemic, Michigan’s
restaurants faced two indoor dining bans in the last year. While many restaurants pivoted to carry-out, some closed completely for the duration or resorted to outdoor dining by building structures and investing in tents and igloos.
The announcement came at the right time for Aaron F. Belen of AFB Hospitality Group.
Belen, the owner of the Morrie in Birmingham and Royal Oak, did not reopen the restaurants at 25% capacity. Both restaurants have been closed since the pause went into effect last November.
“I knew my businesses can’t survive with all those restrictions in place,” Belen said. “These are big operations. I am not running a 1,200-square-foot place with three employees. At 25%, you are going to lose money.”
At 50% capacity, Belen finally is reopening his establishments. The Morrie in Royal Oak will reopen on Thursday and the Birmingham
location will open a week from Friday.
“We are following all the guidelines,” Belen said. “We’ve done everything we were supposed to and then some.”
Both places are restaurant, bar and live music venues and are at least 7,500 square feet each. Combined, AFB hospitality group employs about 175 people.
The new state health order takes effect Friday allowing restaurants and bars to increase indoor dining capacity to 50%, up to 100 people. A new curfew is set at 11 p.m.
While 50% capacity is a step in the right direction, Belen believes Michigan restaurants should be at 75% capacity with a midnight curfew.
“Our industry has been bastardized the most,” Belen said. “But the malls are packed, and other businesses are open.”
Lisa Walters, an operating partner at Mootz Pizzeria in downtown Detroit, was happily surprised about moving to 50% capacity.
“I know March 17 is a big bar day, I thought we wouldn’t hear anything (until) after,” Walters said. “We are very, very happy about it.”
At 25% capacity, Mootz could allow 25 people inside the restaurant. That capacity made for long wait times, especially on the weekends.
“With 25% capacity we had about 21⁄2-hour wait time last weekend with the nice weather,” Walters said. “This 50% is definitely a welcome change for sure.”
Mootz also has its own permanent outdoor patio seating. And Decked Out Detroit, a Bedrock initiative, installed one of several pergolas around downtown in front of the restaurant for outdoor seating.
“The response this winter was amazing, and we definitely want to keep that as a well,” Walters said.
Samy Eid, co-owner of Forest and Phoenicia restaurants in Birmingham and Leila, a Lebanese restaurant in downtown Detroit, is excited at the thought of things slowly getting back to normal.
“Any move in the right direction at this point is a step forward,” he said. “That’s all we are looking for. For our staff and everybody else.”
Eid called the situation a tough one that everyone is trying to navigate.
“We get it. We want to be part of the solution and we are excited to be back to work,” he said.
Eid is equally excited about the 11 p.m. curfew.
“That 11 p.m. curfew gives a true shot at 2 to 3 turns,” he said. “It makes it a bit easier and there’s a little more leeway to get people served and get more guests in the door.”
“Any move in the right direction at this point is a step forward. That’s all we are looking for. For our staff and everybody else.”
Samy Eid
Co-owner of Forest and Phoenicia restaurants in Birmingham and Leila, a Lebanese restaurant in downtown Detroit
All three restaurants reopened at the beginning of February. Eid said the support and demand from guests exceeded expectations throughout the pandemic.
The demand downtown at Leila, the restaurant Eid named after his mother, has been overwhelming.
“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration that (we) turned away nearly 500 people between reservations, phone inquiries and walk-ins,” Eid said.
All in all, Eid feels good about his staff coming back. “We’ve been able to push through,” Eid said. “We feel good. My staff feels good. It feels good to get back to some semblance of normal.”
Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news to: 313-222-6872 or sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.