IT’S INTENSE? GET IN TENTS.
Restaurants eye structures to try to stay afloat amid pandemic, cold
Chicago-area restaurants desperate to keep outdoor dining alive amid plummeting temperatures and new coronavirus restrictions are flooding tent and dome rental companies with inquiries. The suppliers, which suffered a plunge in business when weddings and other events were canceled in the spring, say they have plenty of inventory to satisfy demand. One local dome installer started making the geodesic bubbles in Chicago rather than rely on manufacturers in China so he could respond to orders quickly.
But don’t expect to see sidewalksandparking lots dotted with the structures while restaurants wait for the government to lift the ban on indoor dining.
They must calculate whether it’s worth spending thousands of dollars — sometimes tens of thousands — on temporary outdoor solutions when it’s unclear how many people are interested in eating outside in 20-degree weather. And there aremyriad logistical concerns, such as how servers will brave the elements as they shuttle back and forth fromthe kitchen.
“Do I put them in snowsuits? Do I brand them?” said Michelle Durpetti, co-owner of Gene & Georgetti, who is considering erecting a tent on the sidewalk beside the
Chicagosteakhouse. “It’s another expense because you want it to feel cohesive and experiential.”
Restaurants and bars, already devastated by lost sales during the pandemic, suffered a huge setback in recent days as Gov. J.B. Pritzker reinstated a ban on indoor dining in areas of the state where COVID-19 positivity rates and hospitalizations are rising. The indefinite ban, which applies to most of the state, took effect Friday inChicago.
Outdoor dining is permitted, including inside of tents, greenhouses and plastic domes that comply with local guidelines, giving restaurants hope of a revenue stream outside of takeout that can help keep their servers employed and the business afloat.
The hope often fades, however, once they learn how much those tents and domes cost.
At Indestructo Party Rental in northwest suburban Des Plaines, rental prices range from $5,000 per month for a small tent to $80,000 per month for a very large tent, said owner Lynn Utaski. With social distancing requirements allowing for fewer tables, she encourages restaurants to commit to 30 days at a time to make sure they’re making enough money to make it worthwhile.
Tents engineered to withstand theweight of snoware particularly expensive, said Suzanne Warner, co-owner of Canadian tent maker Tentnology in Vancouver, British Colombia. Buying a 20-by-20-foot tent with snow load costs $25,000 versus $2,500 for a standard tent that size, she said.
“We feel really bad for these restaurants,” said Warner, who sees interest from Chicago restaurateurs fall off after they learn the price. “If you buy a $20,000 tent, that’s a lot of coffees and danishes to be serving to capture the return on investment.”
Renting a dome costs less, but each fits just one party. Chicago-based Synergeo charges $400 per week to renta12-foot framelesspolycarbonate bubble that seats six, and $3,250 to buy it, said founder John Schroeder. A steel-framed version with a heavy-duty vinyl cover costs $500 weekly to rent and $6,000 to buy. He suggests restaurants recoup the money by charging a reservation fee for the romanceof dining inside a globe or getting liquor sponsors for a branded dome.
DineAmic Hospitality, which owns half a dozen restaurants in Chicago, looked into domes but opted to install tents at Bar Siena and neighboring Bandit in theWest Loop so it could fit more tables, said co-owner DavidRekhson.
Now it faces the creative challenge of “how can we create an ambiance where people actually want to sit outside,” Rekhson said.
At Bandit, it installed a fall-themed pumpkin patch that proved popular, and for winter it is planninganapres ski-themed patio with fake snow, a ski lift and mountain decor. Servers will be bundled up and use warming boxes to help keep the food warm during its journey outdoors.
Whether the effort will generate enough revenue to cover the expenses is only part of the calculation. It is also about keeping thebrand relevant and people employed, saidRekhson, whose company employs about 750 people across all of its restaurants and is exploring outdoor options for its other locations.
Mitch Dicker, president of Celebration Authority, a special events company in Mundelein, has been working with restaurants to find ways to make tents fit into
their unique outdoor spaces. Customers range fromhighend restaurants to family owned eateries to brunch spots, though it isn’t feasible in some locations.
“For some people we tell them flat out, ‘It’s not going towork,’” Dicker said. “It’s a financial challenge and it’s a real estate challenge.”
Restaurants must consider numerous factors to determine whether the investment is worthwhile, including profit per plate, how often they turn over tables and how long it takes to get the food from the kitchen to the customer, Dicker said. There are also logistical details, like where staff will enter and exit the tent and how many heaters are needed to raise the temperature to a comfortable level. Shortening the tent legs allow for better heating because it lowers the ceiling, Dicker said.
At Gene & Georgetti, erecting a tent inthe parking lot at its Rosemont location during the summer was a
“huge success,” Durpetti said. The restaurant held live music and film nights to attract customers.
That location permanently closed last weekend after the business couldn’t reach a compromise with its landlord, the village ofRosemont, over a $120,000 tax bill. Now Durpetti is doing the math to see if adding a winter tent to Gene & Georgetti’s sidewalk patio in downtown Chicago, under the Brown Line’s elevated tracks, would pay for itself.
“In December when it’s Chiberia, a cute blanket and a patio heater under a tent doesn’t sound like fine dining tome,” Durpetti said.
Chicago requires tents have at least50% of thewalls open to allowfor ventilation, which means protection from frigid weather is difficult. Single-party domes can be enclosed as long as there is some ventilation.
Still, some air quality experts worry the risk of COVID-19 spread remains in these structures.
Having two walls open allows for “more than enough air exchanges to minimize risks for airborne transmission,” but the challenge of heating the tent could cause other problems, said Ian Cull, president of Indoor Science, a Chicagobased air quality consulting firm.
“A blast of warm air passing over table one may carry the larger droplets over to table two and three that would have normally fallen out of the air via gravity,” Cull said. “Restaurants need to be smart about howthey supplywarm air.”
Domes present a higher risk of transmission because the air exchange is lower, though if the diners already are in close contact day to day it’s less of a concern, he said. Workers popping in and out of the tent are only briefly exposed, which reduces their risk, said Cull, who is offering free ventilation testing to local restaurants using domes to try and identify the best configurations for safety.
Despite the challenges, tent and dome suppliers say calls pour in from anxious business owners after reports of rising case counts or new restrictions.
Anchor Industries, a 128year-old manufacturer in Evansville, Indiana, saw business plummet inMarch andApril then had a surge in orders for tents during the summeras rentalcompanies stocked up, said Blake Shumate, a general manager.
Turnaround time stretched to four weeks as it added second shifts to production lines and had certain machines running 24 hours a day.
For a while aluminum frame systemswere difficult to get. The crunch has since eased and turnaround is closer to two weeks now, Shumate said.
Atdome-makerSynergeo, Schroeder wanted to be prepared for the potential influx of orders from restaurants scrambling for outdoor dining solutions.
The steel-framed domes were manufactured in China and would take a month to arrive, and Schroeder worried restaurants wouldn’t be willing to wait that long. So he came up with a framelessdomehe could make at mHub, an innovation center near Goose Island. The 500pound structures, which look like floating glass snow globes, are made of strong polycarbonate that can withstand cold and snow, he said.
City Winery was a pioneer of dome dining when it introduced the clear bubbles to the Riverwalk in 2017, allowing guests to enjoy the view regardless of the weather. The company is moving those three domes to its West Loop restaurant, and is considering getting threemore and adding some greenhouses to create outdoor seating in its wine garden.
“It has moved from a novelty almost into a necessity,” said Nathan Holgate, national director of operation and general manager of the Chicago restaurants.
The restaurant plans to keep the dome doors and windows open to allow for ample airflow. It disinfects the inside of the domes between seatings with an electrostatic sprayer, letting them air out for 30 to 45 minutes.
The goal is to make it feel like a winter wonderland, with guests sipping mulled wine, spiced cocoas and warm ciders to help stay warm. They are encouraged to bring their own blankets.