Is Ducey’s patio expansion program helping?
Mary Yu, manager at Dino’s Greek & Italian Grill in Goodyear, says her restaurant is waiting for help. Soon, they’ll be able to expand their patio thanks to a grant program from the state. But first, they need the money.
Hundreds of restaurants across Arizona applied for financial assistance to expand their patios after Gov. Doug Ducey announced a new program, which allows for more outdoor dining during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have someone coming in next week to look at the space,” Yu says. At that point, they’ll have a better idea how far the funds the restaurant will receive from the state will go.
There’s already a lot of demand for the outdoor seating Dino’s currently offers, she says, so the extension will help reduce wait times and seat more customers while the restaurant is limited to 50% of its indoor capacity.
“It’s definitely something we wanted,” she says.
Numbers of coronavirus cases and related deaths are at an all time high in
Arizona, making the state a national hotspot for the virus. Health experts say eating outside is safer than dining indoors.
Ducey’s program eases restrictions on gaining extension permits for patio seating and provides restaurants with up to $10,000 in funding to build outdoor dining space. But as metro Phoenix restaurants and bars continue to struggle with the impacts of the pandemic, extended patios may be just a drop in the bucket of the help they need.
Still, some say at this point, any help is welcome.
Here’s how the patio expansion program works
On Dec. 2 Ducey held a news conference announcing a new executive order in partnership with the Arizona Restaurant Association to help restaurants and bars that serve food expand their patios.
The program would help in “cutting red tape” in the application and approval process, he said, making it easier for restaurants to expand into their parking lots or across public sidewalks.
At that point, he also designated $1 million for funding patio extensions, with each restaurant entitled to apply for up to $10,000. On Jan 5, the governor added another $2 million to the fund after the state received more than 250 restaurant applications.
Arizona’s program comes months after California, Colorado and other states and cities around the country allowed restaurants to expand their patios.
Dan Bogert, chief operating officer for the Arizona Restaurant Association, chalks the delay up to the weather, noting that outdoor seating during an Arizona summer is difficult. By waiting, he says, Arizona’s restaurants were able to watch how colder weather states expanded outdoors and learn from that.
Some metro Phoenix cities took initiative to help the restaurants before the governor’s order.
In late November, Chandler announced a program called “On the Street.” The program allows restaurants and other businesses to open patio seating in front of their storefronts. Chandler’s downtown redevelopment specialist John Carter Owens says the program has been well received so far.
“As a community driven program, we expect that it will be valuable not only on the participating businesses, but the entire downtown, as it will add even more vibrancy to Downtown Chandler’s already wonderful pedestrian experience,” Owens wrote in a statement to The Arizona Republic.
The city took steps to make the process of expanding outdoors easier, Owens explained, by waving fees and streamlining the approval process.
To partake in the program, businesses across Chandler must meet a few requirements, including being located on a street with a maximum speed limit of 25 mph with only one lane of traffic in either direction. Businesses must have a store front along a street with designated parking and the business must follow all state coronavirus operating standards.
The first business to take advantage of the program was The Brickyard Downtown restaurant and bar.
‘It’s one way to help restaurants strive’
When the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership reached out to Gavin Jacobs to see if he would be interested in expanding his outdoor seating area, he jumped on the idea.
Jacobs owns The Brickyard Downtown, a restaurant and cocktail bar on Boston Street. Due to the long, narrow nature of the restaurant, social distancing guidelines mean The Brickyard can only seat 35% of its normal capacity inside, Jacobs says.
Adding seats outside was an exciting opportunity to help offset losses the business has suffered over the past year, he says.
After he submitted his application, the City of Chandler approved the extension in a couple days and the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control gave the green light quickly thereafter. Within eight days, Jacobs transformed parking spaces in front of his restaurant into a 750-square-foot dining area that can seat 24 customers.
With the expanded patio, he’s now able to serve about 75% of his pre-pandemic capacity, a significant increase from 35% without the new outdoor space.
“The patio has been extremely helpful,” Jacobs says. “It’s one way to help restaurants strive through what we’ve been dealing with.”
‘I think that it could have been better directed’
Across town in central Phoenix, cocktail bar Pigtails now has an outdoor seating area for the first time, thanks to the governor’s program.
Beverage Director Kyla Hein says the team at the small bar had been talking about adding a patio and, with Ducey’s program in place, was able to expand onto the sidewalk. Pigtails was approved to receive a grant, but was still waiting on the check to arrive, so the company paid for the new seating area out of pocket.
“This was a pretty minimalist set up and it doesn’t cover the cost,” Hein says of the grant money they are set to receive.
The funding helps cover the purchase of six tables and accompanying chairs, she says. But adding a whole new seating area has long term costs including paying staff to serve the outdoor tables, buying propane for the heaters and maintaining the equipment. In a time when businesses are struggling, these costs add up, she says.
Also, with Ducey’s program starting in the middle of winter, Hein hasn’t seen many people use the patio yet.
“Nobody wants to sit outside in December when he gave all this money for patios. People would rather go wait inside somewhere else,” she says. “But hopefully once the weather turns nicer, it will be full every day.”
Hein says Pigtails is grateful for Ducey’s program, but she thinks the amount of help and timing were off. Additional PPP or Paycheck Protection Program funding would have been more helpful, she says, as paying for labor and rent are much bigger concerns for small businesses.
“I’m thankful for the assistance but I think that it could have been better directed,” Hein says.
‘You have to find hope in the little things’
Nick Campisano and Joshua James own five restaurants around the Valley including Clever Koi in midtown Phoenix and Fellow Osteria in south Scottsdale. Both restaurants applied for, and received, funding to extend their outdoor seating.
Campisano says he’s trying to jump on any assistance opportunities he can and applied at 7 a.m. on the first day the patio program application went live online.
“A lot of our guests feel a lot more safe in general outside,” he says, as both restaurants already offer patio seating.
Fellow Osteria and Clever Koi were approved for grants to expand their patios so the company designated money to buy new tables, chairs, barriers and heaters. The check came in the mail a few weeks later.
For Fellow Osteria, James built planter boxes for herbs and the team hung string lights to make the new patio fit in with the existing one. So far, guests have been loving the new seating area, Campisano says, and have requested to sit in the new space.
While restaurants could use more help in this difficult time, Campisano says he’s trying to stay positive and be grateful for any help that does come his way.
“You have to look at it like an opportunity. In this time it is so easy to get down,” he says. “We’ve just got to do the best we can right now.”
How many restaurants will the program help?
Like Dino’s, many restaurants that applied for funding have been approved but have yet to receive their checks in the mail. For some, like The Brickyard and Fellow Osteria, owners financed the patio buildouts and will replenish their funds when the money arrives. Others will have to wait until they have the money in hand.
As of Jan. 13, more than 100 restaurants statewide had been approved for funding, according to a list provided by the governor’s office. About half of the approved restaurants are slated to receive the maximum possible grant of $10,000, the rest will receive less, ranging from grants of $2,400 to $9,900.
Dan Bogert of the Arizona Restaurant Association says by the association’s count, the average for grants is between $8,000 and $8,500 so far.
“The response from restaurants is fantastic,” Bogert says, “which shows there is an intense demand out there.”
Gov. Ducey’s allocated $3 million is a great place to start, but it won’t cover every restaurant that applies, he says. But Bogert is hopeful the expanded patio program is one piece of assistance that will help when coupled with other programs.
“By now, we all realize this isn’t going away, so restaurants are going to continue needing assistance,” Bogert says. “But I don’t think of this as siloed, these are stop-gap measures and everything together helps.”