Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A ‘pod’ of one’s own
Miami restaurant’s solution to dining at a distance
For customers wondering what post-pandemic dining might look like in South Florida, settle into one of Pubbelly Sushi’s new “dining pods.”
Chef José Mendín’s upscale sushi chain has installed the pods at Pubbelly’s four locations in
Aventura, Miami Beach, Brickell and Dadeland, unveiling them to the public when Miami-Dade reopened as part of the state’s phased reopening on May 18.
Think of the dining pods, which stand 6- to 8-feet tall, as glorified room dividers. Mendín worked with Miami developer and Pubbelly partner Daniel Pena to custombuild the pods, made with dense polyethylene plastic sheets framed in wooden borders. The pods, which will surround Pubbelly’s seating booths, will be spaced six feet apart and are designed to isolate guests and front-of-house staff throughout the meal. Between five and 10 pods seating up to six guests will be in each location,
Mendín says.
“The most important thing is that guests and employees feel safe,” says Mendín, a James Beard
nominated chef in charge of the growing Food Comma Hospitality Group (Pubbelly, Habitat and the uber-Puerto Rican restaurant La Placita). “In our dining room we have the space to do this, so we’ll do it the right way.”
Mendín admits there’s no guidebook for how restaurants should transform dining rooms for socially distant meals, but the pods are “a good start.” Under phase 1 of Florida’s re-opening guidelines, tables must be spaced six feet apart and dining rooms must be at 25 percent capacity.
“We’re all learning because this has never happened before,” Mendín, 40, says. “I didn’t go to college for socially distanced dining. We have to make it work.”
When Miami-Dade
County ordered restaurants shut on March 17, Pubbelly instantly pivoted to takeout and delivery, but only captured about 30 percent of the eatery’s pre-pandemic sales. With help from federal Paycheck Protection Program loans, Mendín has continued paying staffers’ full salaries during the shutdown. He also paid 80 percent of the salaries for Pubbelly employees unwilling to work and quarantined at home.
Dining pods aren’t the only safety measure Pubbelly is adding. At dining tables, customers will be able to scan QR codes with their smartphone and be directed to Pubbelly’s online ordering menu, which will help shorten interactions between servers and customers. Each Pubbelly will have hand sanitizer on every table and mandatory temperature checks for employees before each shift, Mendín says.