As of Monday, Jan. 11, Minnesota restaurants will be permitted to open to 50 percent capacity for indoor dining, something that has been prohibited since Nov. 20 as officials tried to tamp down a November surge of cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19.
Before the announcement earlier this week on WCCO, we brought you one restaurateur who said owners believed a 50 percent capacity could help keep more restaurants afloat during a challenging time. Some might be jubilant planning for the week ahead, but not every restaurant is jumping right back into indoor dining.
Back in May, we told you about two local retail small businesses that were choosing to close their doors, despite executive orders allowing them to welcome customers like normal. The Irreverent Bookworm and Cake Plus Size Resale, both in south Minneapolis, said they didn’t want to take the risk and have remained closed except for appointment shopping, bolstered by online and social media sales.
The financial impact of the pandemic has not been felt evenly across industries as evidenced by the steadiness of retail and the roller coaster restaurants have experienced.
Despite those challenges, not all restaurants are partaking in indoor dining.
Jason Dorweiler, owner of Tori Ramen in St. Paul and co-owner of Tori 44 in Minneapolis, said they’re continuing with takeout only, wanting to stay as safe as possible.
“Where we see us right now, it’s not, ‘Let’s open and get people in here and make money and extend more jobs to our old employees.’ While that’s all nice and great for everybody, it’s also a big risk you’re going to take on,” Dorweiler said.
It’s a similar sentiment for ENKI Brewing in Victoria owner, John Hayes, who wants to see if coronavirus numbers stay down once things open back up again.
“Letting people go back to congregating, we’ve already seen what’s happening in the rest of the country,” Hayes said. “We don’t want to look like California. We don’t want to outstrip the capacity of our hospitals.”
Though he said some have interpreted the decision as a political statement, Hayes said their email and FaceBook post announcements to remain closed and not offer takeout have received overwhelmingly positive responses.
“Now I’m more excited than ever when it is safe to reopen because we have so many wonderful customers that are saying, ‘Thank you, we appreciate your responsibility,’ ‘I work in healthcare and I’m worried about all these people,’ and it makes me feel good about seeing these people again when it is safe to reopen,” Hayes said.
Just weeks after opening just a new Tori Ramen location on West 7th in St. Paul, the pandemic shutdown struck. Dorweiler is now down to a two-person team and they’ve adjusted their model multiple times including shrinking their menu. He said they’re not turning a profit but are “making enough to stay afloat” until they feel it does make sense to open to indoor dining.
“We have to do the right thing,” Dorweiler said. “We can’t point the finger at one man. What would anyone do in this case? It’s all a big unknown and we have to keep it safe and do the best we can.”
MDH officials have stressed the role a setting can play in spreading the virus. Areas where people have their masks off eating and drinking, where they’re talking and socializing, and where they’re indoors are, according to their data, more risky than a quick trip to the grocery store, for example. Dorweiler says there can be a lot of variables at restaurants.
“Maybe you let out a cough because the food went down the wrong throat,” he said. “There’s always going to be that happening. It’s a recipe for disaster in my opinion.”
January and February are the slowest months for Twin Cities restaurants. Both Dorweiler and Hayes hope to be open soon, once they -- and their customers -- feel safe.
“It doesn’t feel like the right thing to do yet,” Hayes said.
