OUTDOOR DINING
Collar City restaurants eager to have extra seating available
TROY, N.Y. » With the recent arrival of spring, local restaurants are kicking off the 2021 outdoor dining season in the Collar City.
The City of Troy is currently accepting permit applications from food service establishments looking to maximize their outdoor space this season. Along with sidewalk space, the city is also once again inviting businesses to apply for the use of city parking spaces, a program that was made widely available in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
These extra outdoor seating opportunities are particularly important to restaurants amid the ongoing pandemic.
Last year, 18 Troy businesses applied for outdoor dining permits, and city officials expect the popular program to grow in 2021.
While vaccine availability is becoming more widespread, local eateries have found that some customers still prefer to dine outside when possible.
“A lot of people have been vaccinated so far, but until the majority of people are vaccinated, I think there’s definitely going to be a need for outdoor dining for individuals that have not been vaccinated, or that are just still concerned about their safety indoors,” Downtown Troy Business Improvement District Executive Director Katie Hammon said.
Even with loosened restrictions on restaurant capacity limits, finding space to serve guests is still a challenge for smaller res
taurants, Hammon explained.
“It’s important to have the outdoor space in order to have more tables to physically distance people with the capacity they actually need to operate.”
Though the preparation may be a bit tricky, “A lot of the restaurants, bars are excited for outdoor dining,” Hammon said. As temperatures increase, “It’s on everybody’s mind.”
Broadway business Bard & Baker Board Game Cafe is planning to take full advantage of the outdoor street parking capabilities this year, according to owner Charlotte Guyton.
“While New York state is allowing restaurants to open back up to 75% indoor dining capacity, Bard & Baker will remain at 50% indoor seating capacity for the comfort and safety of our staff and guests until vaccine distribution is farther along,” she said. “Increased outdoor dining capacity means that we are able to put our safety and comfort level of our guests and staff first instead of being forced to reopen at 75% in order to maintain the necessary sales to remain open as a business overall.
“It is going to provide us the opportunity to seat more people comfortably while creating more jobs in our community to accommodate the additional volume of those seeking a fun and safe environment
while our country continues to work towards healing. We can’t wait for outdoor dining!”
Bard & Baker offered takeout and delivery only last summer, but it did
participate in the 2019 PARK(ing) Day event, for which it created an outdoor green space in a parking spot outside of the café with giant lawn games.
Based on that event’s success, Bard & Baker’s 2021 outdoor dining space will be designed around this same model, incorporating lush plant life and games, Guyton said.
Downtown bar and tasting room 518 Craft is already utilizing additional space for the second year in a row.
As soon as the business got its permit application approved, on a warm early spring day, owner Jeremy Cowan and his team immediately moved tables and chairs out to the sidewalk and parking space and customers started to use them.
“We’re really lucky to be able to move our service into the parking spots,” he said.
Weather will determine when this outdoor seating is available over the next few weeks, but when summer arrives Cowan hopes to offer it on a regular basis.
“It’s really important,” Cowan said, noting that the tasting room’s indoor seating is quite limited. “Inside there’s only so much space that we’re able to serve people, so the outdoor seating basically makes it so that we can survive and cover our overhead and hopefully, at least this summer, make a couple of dollars back.”
The business is even planning some special events that will take advantage of the outdoor seating. This idea is to “keep people safe and sound, but also engaged and having some fun,” Cowan said. “I think people are ready to have a little bit of fun this summer.”