The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Facing a menu of worries
Restaurants prep for June 17 return of indoor dining
On the heels of a sunny weekend with more good weather in the coming days, Connecticut restaurants have a solid stretch to rebuild patronage with outdoor service — and indoor dining is barely more than a week away.
For Peter Valis, co-owner of Kouzina in Stamford, June 17 cannot come soon enough. That is when the Main Street restaurant can reopen his indoor dining, with a long list of restrictions under an executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont, along with others lining Main Streets across Connecticut.
But Valis is among the restaurateurs with tempered expectations about how well indoor dining will bounce back, in light of the impact of social distancing on capacity.
“You might have 30 people at the most dining at one time inside. There’s no way you can survive off that,” Valis said. “The outdoor patio kind of makes up the difference of what you can’t have inside.”
After pressure from hundreds of restaurants statewide to begin indoor service this Wednesday, Lamont compromised by moving up his target date by three days to June 17, in a second phase of reopening that will include fitness centers, youth sports, movie theaters, libraries, amusement parks and hotels among other sectors of the economy.
Speaking Monday during a daily press conference, Lamont reiterated he wants to be vigilant against any flare up of coronavirus in Connecticut as businesses reopen, and in light of ongoing protests after the death of George Floyd that have brought many participants into close proximity.
“Were opening up, in effect, about 95 percent of our economy,” Lamont said. “We think this is a calculated risk in helping get our tourism [industry] going . ... I think we’re ready to go with the indoor dining.”
Lamont added the state is closely monitoring the Foxwoods and Mohegan
Sun casinos for any increase in diagnoses among employees or visitors.
Many restaurants are far along in their planning, having been offering outdoor service since May 20 under strict rules, along with takeout and delivery service that was always allowed after Lamont’s March orders barring table service. Through last Thursday, however, less than 2,700 had certified their establishments as adhering to coronavirus safeguards as a requirement to reopen, representing only about one in three of the total number statewide tallied by the Connecticut Restaurant Association.
Click here for the complete state rules for indoor restaurant dining starting June 17.
Lamont’s head of economic development David Lehman noted on Monday that restaurants got the instructions for indoor dining only over the weekend, with many that had not chosen to offer outdoor dining still readying their premises.
“I’m going to try to do it
as safely as possible, obviously with a lot of different protocols in place that weren’t part of the day-today operations four to five months ago,” said Dennis Lake, owner of Mexican restaurant La Taqueria on Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich. “I’m going above and beyond to make sure everything is safe and done right.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowed outdoor service to begin only June 4, but only in upstate and western portions of the state, providing a boost for restaurants in border towns such as Greenwich and Ridgefield. Demand was dampened by some intervening rainy days, making the indoor option all the more critical.
“Indoor dining will help the restaurants and that, combined with ... continued takeout and curbside, they will get closer to the revenue they anticipated,” said Jackie Lightfield, co-founder of the Norwalk 2.0 nonprofit that serves as a resource for city businesses.
“But for some, the numbers are just not going to pencil out to break even, so its a question of whether they will continue.”
Restaurants will be limited to half their normal
dining room capacity, with interior waiting areas to remain closed, and selfserve food stations like buffets not allowed. In addition to normal safeguards like face masks and hand sanitizer, servers are required to wear latex gloves and be assigned specific zones.
Where possible, employees are to have their own, dedicated equipment like cooking utensils and trays, and must wash hands routinely — no interval is mandated — for at least 20 seconds.
In a significant allowance, tables can be spaced closer than six feet apart if restaurants install intervening barriers like Plexiglas that extend at least 30 inches above the height of a table, including for booths. Bar service is allowed provided groups maintain six feet of distance, with no standing allowed.
Musicians are allowed to not wear masks provided they have a buffer of at least 12 feet from customers.
The Lamont administration is referring owners to additional guidelines published by the National Restaurant Association.
Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman