Eatery embraces takeout format

Hapeville’s Taco Pete Bistro adapts to be like sister location.

When Reo Pagán unveiled Taco Pete Bistro two and a half years ago, it was a different place than his first Taco Pete in East Point.

While the original spot is a tiny building with a walk-up window, through which guests are handed tacos, burgers and wings wrapped to go, the sister location in Hapeville offered table service, plates, silverware, margaritas and beer.

And, while Taco Pete closed at 8:30 p.m., the bistro fancied itself a nightspot. It opened at 5 p.m., catering to airport travelers staying over at two adjacent hotels. The menu changed, too. Instead of a la carte tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc., there were combo plates, with beans and rice.

However, it didn’t take long for Pagán, 65, to realize the late hours weren’t for him — not to mention the extra staffing, the dishwashing, the mopping up spilled drinks. “It was a lot,” he said.

So, when the pandemic upended both Taco Petes, Pagán made haste to refashion the bistro as a takeout-only spot, and to forward the East Point location’s calls to the Hapeville store, so he wouldn’t lose business.

When the delightfully oldschool original Taco Pete reopens later this month, it will boast safety features (including plexiglass protectors at the window and a touch-free point-of-sale system) to protect staff and customers. The building only measures 270 square feet, so maintaining proper social distancing inside has been a concern.

After months of delays, concerns, handwringing and re-setting, a Hollywood stu- dio released a major film in theaters around the world during a global pandemic.

Defying expectations, mil- lions of people turned out to see it.

“Tenet,” the time-bending Christopher Nolan thriller Warner Bros. had been hop- ing would kickstart the movie business after a months-long hiatus, grossed $53 million as it opened in countries around the world over the weekend. Filmgoers from South Korea to France, Canada to Taiwan, turned out wearing masks in socially distanced theaters to transform the most sig- nificant film release since lockdowns began in March into an early hit.

Many analysts had been expecting about $40 million from the roughly 40 territories where the movie opened.

“It’s a very impressive result, frankly,” said Bruce Nash, an expert at boxoffice site The Numbers. “You needed three players to come together in this dance to make it happen – Warner Bros., theaters and moviegoers. And you have to credit each of them for doing their part.”

The studio, prodded by Nolan, had decided to bring the movie out even as many of its rivals have moved their films to 2021 or to digital platforms.

But the initial success also raises questions about where the business goes from here – whether demand has been exhausted overseas and whether the U.S., where theaters in many cities remain closed, can come close to approximating the feat. For an American sector that has been battered by the pandemic – in August, domestic box office dropped to $13 million from more than $700 million in the same month in 2019 – a rebound has become essential.

Theater owners say they need “Tenet” and other movies to do well so they can pay lenders and landlords, to whom many have been unable to send checks since the spring, when the- aters shut down and reve- nue dried up.

The numbers are unde- ni a bly strong ove r se a s. “Inception,” Nolan’s summer 2010 film with a related premise, was a major smash abroad, grossing $535 million internationally. In France, South Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom, the movie totaled $36 million on its opening weekends. For “Tenet” this weekend, those four territories brought in $23 million, suggesting business upwards of 60% of normal times, a ratio much higher than many analysts had forecast.

Experts say the pent-up demand helped; most moviegoers have not seen a new Hollywood film since the spring. So did the buzz about the movie re-opening theaters.

But they also note that the $53 million opening could be misleading.

“One of the ‘Tenet’ factors is that it has no competition; theater owners pretty much don’t have anything else to play,” said Nash, noting how the film was often on three, four or even five screens at a given multiplex. “The real question becomes: can you have two movies at the same time that do OK?”

That’s a lesson Disney will seek to learn with “Mulan” as it opens the much-delayed action-adventure in foreign countries beginning this week. (It will be available for a $30 premium fee to Disney Plus subscribers in the U.S.) And “Wonder Woman 1984,” the animated film “Soul” and new James Bond picture “No Time to Die” will test the premise when they open later this fall.

The numbers also come as smaller releases, including the independent “Unhinged” and much-shuffled DisneyFox superhero picture “New Mutants” opened to $4 million and $7 million last weekend and this weekend respectively.