A chef's account: Reopening a restaurant in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown
NOTE: The author is executive chef at Red on Main in Madison, Ind. His account was posted on Sunday, May 17, detailing his experience reopening his restaurant in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown. We at Hello Louisville found it to be insightful in light of many restaurants in Kentucky preparing to partially reopen this coming Friday. It is presented without edits courtesy of LouisvilleHotBytes.
By Ronnie Dingman
After a full week of being open under the "new normal," I am pleased to report that for the most part, things are surprisingly the same. We had a fully booked house all nights except Thursday (?). Lunches were much slower than expected, but with everyone's routine disrupted and many still working from home, the business lunch isn't a thing again yet. Dinners, as stated, were plenty busy, even at 50% capacity, and honestly I'm not entirely sorry for it. After 6 weeks of rust accumulation, going right back into the weeds, on top of some of the restriction changes, would have likely been a disaster. It's kinda hard to compose this in a way that makes sense, so here are some bullet points from the "new normal" (keep in mind, I'm in IN, where things are a bit more "normal"):
Masks: Are a nightmare in the kitchen. Several of my employees had to take a few extra breaks just from the restricted breathing caused by wearing them in a hot, busy, stuffy kitchen. I personally attest to them being a real big pain in the butt. You have to stop every few minutes to take them down, taste or smell something, then replace them, then change gloves or sanitize your hands, then get back to work. This slows things WAY down, particularly during the rush. And, again, they are very, very hot. My crew was really good about adhering to the policy, though and took it all very seriously. They are not ideal for kitchen use. Servers had a different issue, mostly being heard while trying to speak through them. This quickly becomes a trade off between social distancing and mask wearing. You can't hear them when they are far away AND wearing a mask, so they either have to shout, get closer, or remove the mask. Our FOH team were really troupers though and battled through it. However it's funny, when, after service, they all walk around still shouting, even when masks are off. On the upside, our servers managed to acquire a wide variety of decorative and interesting-looking masks, so we're not coming off like dining in the ICU. Overall assessment: I hate the masks. They suck and they make it hard to do a good job, but they are required, so what are you going to do?
Extra cleaning measures: Absolutely no issue here at all. Our staff was prompt about keeping everything completely clean and sanitized before, during, and after service. I certainly do not mind having a super extra clean restaurant to work in.
Social Distancing: Also not really much of an issue. We measured and marked off the dining room before we re-opened and tables and chairs remained at safe distances at all times, even when fully booked. If a table or chair was moved out of bounds, it was easily reset by FOH during the turn. Having a host/hostess play traffic cop made sure we never had groups of people milling about waiting for or getting to seats. And again, 50% capacity wasn't necessarily a bad thing here. We took reservations all week just to give us better handle on crown control and management, but will likely only take them for large parties going forward. There was also a good mix of take-away business interspersed with the dine in business.
Customers: I was kind of surprised, because no issue here either. Everyone was on their best behavior and respected the rules and restrictions. We do not require masks on guests in IN, so participation varied, but there were no issues with anyone not being respectful of others or making any kind of trouble. Honestly, it felt like EVERYONE was just super pleased to be out and able to eat at a restaurant again.
Pre-Shift Checks: Honestly, these were the hardest things to remember. When staff shows up, it's usually time for work, not time to play 20 questions and fill out paperwork, so a lot of times it was, "you're here? Great! We need a full sheet pan of oven roasted potatoes on the fly." And then a half hour later "oh, yeah, sign this thing that says you're not dying of the covid." We have a small staff, so I see the same people every day and they already know not to come to work if they are even remotely, kinda sort sick, so this extra layer of documentation seems silly. But again, what you gonna do.
Employees: To that point, I am proud to say my staff was great about all the changes. Everyone was dedicated to doing it right and following the rules, even the ones they didn't love. Heck, things were so normal, I even had two potential hires not show up for their first shift and one line cook call in Saturday night. Some things never change...
Final Appraisal: Dear lord it was nice to be back to work in a very real sense. Carry-out only was a nice life boat, but it was not as fulfilling as being in a bustling restaurant with happy diners and crazy restaurant employees.
That's everything I can think of right now, as I sit here exhausted and nursing some lower back pain. I've got two days off (well kinda off, I have to do food costing and inventory and ordering...) and then it's right back to it! If I left anything out or if there are any questions or concerns, I am happy to respond. Mostly I want to thank everyone who (safely) came out and make this re-opening week a success for our small restaurant. It's so good to be back!