Adapting to the new times
Local restaurants invest thousands in outdoor dining
After making massive investments in outdoor dining when shelter-in-place restrictions were eased for a while last year, Los Gatos restaurant owners weren’t too happy about going back to takeout and curbside business models when Santa Clara County went into lockdown again over the holidays. But they are hopeful that those investments will pay off once restrictions are eased again.
“Hopefully the light is at the end of the tunnel,” says Adam Chick of Sidecar on East Main Street. “We will pursue every grant and SBA loan possible. At our high point we had 28 employees, and now we are down to four.”
Chick says they invested about $11,000 in two tents, a deck in the parklet, decorative LED lights, plants and 12 outdoor heaters.
“We wanted to ensure every table gets a heater, and not many can say that,” he adds.
For the present, Sidecar’s to-go table is open Tuesday-sunday, 4:30-8 p.m. In addition to cocktails, they’ve just added six new meal packages that can be ordered online or via walkup.
When it became clear that outdoor dining was going to be the new norm, Stephen Shelton of Lexington House set out to create a safe and comfortable environment for guests, with steel and tempered glass partitions to separate diners from other tables and from passing pedestrians. The furniture was selected for its ease of mobility and its longevity.
“We did not want a patchwork kind of look that highlighted the negative side of the pandemic,” Shelton says. “I wanted to highlight the positive aspect of it: ‘Look, now we get to eat outdoors in our beautiful town, with great weather!’”
He says the Lexington House’s location on North Santa Cruz Avenue is a boon to outdoor dining.
“I have been lucky enough to have a decent outdoor area in which to put tables with ample safe distance between them, and to have a large parklet area, plus the benefit of a corner street location.”
Shelton says he spent more than $40,000 for everything: tables, chairs, partitions, heaters, lighting, an Ada-compliant platform for the parklet and rain protection. “The town did pay for the K-rail and cement walls and they did not require any design review applications, so that saved time and money,” he adds.
Shelton says he was able to keep his entire kitchen staff on during the time he was open for outdoor dining, along with about 40% of the front of the house staff, although he went further into debt by keeping them on.
“Essentially, we are pushing out the debt until we get back to normal,” he adds. “When we were open outside, though, business was booming.”
Shelton says it was worth the investment to create an environment that will outlast the pandemic.
“I felt people might just forget the stress of the shutdown and embrace, as I have, how lucky we are just to be able to do this.”
Some restaurant owners weren’t as lucky. Suhail Karimi of Eleven College Ave had shut down completely for the week after Christmas. “The revenue stream just wasn’t there,” he says, adding that other places near Los Gatos High School had paused as well.
Since his regular menu doesn’t translate well into takeout, Karimi is planning to reopen for Texas barbecue in the new year.
“I’ve got two pit smokers and we’re doing smoked brisket, tri-tips, smoked chicken, ribs, plus all the classic sides, like cornbread, mac ’n’ cheese, coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans —all the classic Texas barbecue foods that are simple, but take a lot of time to prepare,” he says.
To enhance the outdoor dining experience, Karimi installed radiant heat on the patio, along with sides for the tents and additional propane heaters. He’s also building a pergola. He estimates costs at least $15,000, plus another $5,000 for the barbecue setup. Additionally, he’s invested in a Uv-based indoor HVAC system for the time he can welcome diners inside his restaurant, which opened during the pandemic.
Karimi is optimistic that business will bounce back once case levels trend downward, the vaccine starts getting wider distribution and the county greenlights outdoor dining once more.
“The Roaring Twenties came as a reaction to the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918,” he says. “History has a way of repeating itself.”