It’s been over a month since the spread of the coronavirus closed or otherwise severely limited restaurants and retailers in Shelby County. But on Monday, under an updated stay-at-home order, a few businesses in Midtown’s Cooper-Young area welcomed back customers in uncertain culinary times.
“We’re just kind of waiting to see what happens,” said a manager at the popular Mexican restaurant, Cafe Ole. He asked WKNO not to use his name because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press.
On a pre-pandemic Monday, the restaurant’s margarita specials, combined with warm weather and spacious patio seating, would typically draw a lunch crowd.
But on this Monday, the handful of servers and workersdressed in masks and gloves stood idle, still waiting for their first customer around 12:30. If this first day back was less than auspicious, Tuesday's Cinco De Mayo celebrations have the restaurant preparing to be at capacity. For now, capacity means no more than 50 percent occupancy, with all tables spaced at least six feet apart. They’ve added socially-distanced blue markings on the sidewalk outside in case a line forms.
New operating guidelines require restaurants and retailers to screen employees for COVID symptoms before their shifts. Cafe Ole says they’ll check the temperatures of all workers and customers and have 20-minute timers set to remind employees to wash their hands.
Monday’s lunch crowds at Young Avenue Deli and Soul Fish appeared sparse, but necessarily so with new social distancing measures in place.
One of Soul Fish’s patio customers described the experience as fairly normal, but Shaquana Jones said she’ll stick with their curbside services. She doesn’t plan to dine in at restaurants for a while longer, though as a server herself, she’s not opposed to reinstating table service at her restaurant in Bartlett.
For her, the question is whether customers will cooperate with new guidelines.
“When we open back up, I think everybody’s going to get excited, and then it’s going to be a little hard to try to regulate everything,” she said.
Some restaurants have been criticized for reopening too soon. Others for remaining closed. Managers that spoke to WKNO say they’re facing a tough choice. They’re under extreme financial pressure to bring employees back to work, while not taking any chances with customer or employee health.
Sweet Grass owner Ryan Trimm said his restaurant will remain take-out only for now, but he understands why others are choosing differently.
“There’s a lot of people saying a lot of really harsh things on Facebook to people that are opening right now,” he said. "I know we’re not, but you know, you got to understand everybody’s situation. There’s a whole lot more to it than people realize...there’s a lot of people out there that are trying to do the right thing for their employees.”
Trimm said he’ll base decisions on Health Department data that shows further reductions in the spread of COVID-19. Besides, opening at reduced capacity might actually do more harm than good for his business model.
“It’s not economically viable at all to be at 50 percent,” Trimm said. “It’s going to take some time for people to feel comfortable about going out again.”