COVID-19 has been brutal on the restaurant industry.
From restrictions that limited business to supply chain problems to workers becoming sick with a potentially fatal illness, restaurants and other Valley eateries have struggled to find ways to prepare, serve and sometimes deliver food in healthier and safer ways.
While restaurant business models often force owners to innovate to keep their business alive, stealing tricks from others and looking at a facility or method different ways has created some new solutions.
And the upside of the pandemic is that it gave restaurant owners a forced new perspective to examine their business and see what would work. That included moving beyond packing in customers to tight spaces and reducing touchpoints such as menus and utensils.
The look of post-COVID restaurants
Many restaurants are built around the dine-in experience, thriving on location, decor and ambiance, often for large meal and entertainment gatherings for family or friends.
Many restaurants changed that to deal with operating amid a pandemic. Some continue to do so while others have moved back to pre-pandemic footing.
Michael Rusconi said he left in his glass dividers in Rusconi American Kitchen’s North Tatum Boulevard location.
Conversely, Tim Vasquez, owner of Someburros, said his chain took out the dividers when no longer required, as customers and staff found those to be a communication barrier.
While almost all seating has been returned to the dining area, it’s tough to serve all the potential customers that would like to dine in.
“The amount of time people tend to stay and dine seems to have increased, and I don’t know if that will change back,” Rusconi said. “After the chance to dine out with family and friends was interrupted, people were really grateful to get that back.”
Rusconi said he hopes guests will limit their stays to two hours maximum in order for smaller restaurants to maintain reservations and keep moving the flow of patrons waiting outside.
John Stidham, owner of the original Original Breakfast House on 32nd Street in Phoenix, said he returned to 95 of what had been about 110 seats before the pandemic. There were a few seats at the counter sacrificed to make room for an expanded carry-out service.
“We’ve got a covered patio area for those waiting outside,” Stidham said.
A former owner of several restaurants, Stidham said some health-related changes to a location can be decorative. As part of a major remodel of the Breakfast House over the past couple of years, antique windows have been installed between booths.
Among the larger fast casual chains, seating has also changed. Vasquez said he the small Someburros chain decided to stick with the limited indoor seating geared toward 6-foot distancing recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent the spread of a virus.
“It’s easier to keep fewer tables clean and sanitized,” Vasquez said.
The 12-restaurant Someburros chain — soon to add locations in Goodyear, the Peoria and two in the North Valley — used to have bins of silverware for dine-in patrons to peruse.
“Now, we have pre-wrapped napkin/silverware bundles,” Vasquez said.
The use of hard, washable plates and silverware is a 10-year-old concept at Someburros. However, Vasquez said, while water use is a concern, he feels good about not putting more paper and plastic out to dine-in customers when carry-out and delivery food are on the rise.
Stacy Young, senior art director for the Cafe Rio chain, said the easiest way to keep up with the patchwork quilt of COVID-19 spacing, cleaning and customer interaction is simply to follow the most stringent rules in the U.S.
“A lot of things, we simply made a part of company policy, until further notice,” Young said. “For example, we’re still requiring masks on all staff.”
Rusconi, Stidham, Vasquez and Young all mentioned spending more on hand sanitizer for both guests and staff. Young said vaccination is highly encouraged by Cafe Rio.
Dine-in vs. drive-thru or carry-out
One of the biggest changes has been most restaurants adapting more carry-out service and drive-thru if locations allow.
Vasquez said all four of the newest Someburros locations will be outfitted with full drive-thru and carry-out service, while some older locations are being retrofitted as configurations allow.
Rusconi said he appreciates customers taking advantage of Rusconi American Kitchen’s specialty to-go menu — so much, that he offered food on that menu as a thank-you to customers.
Stidham said he sacrificed a few seats at his Original Breakfast House’s well-known counter to create a larger take-out station.
He said his team “didn’t even answer the phone” regarding to-go orders before the pandemic, went up to “substantial” when his restaurant was closed to dining, was about 15 to 20% of overall business once it re-opened and has now dwindled again to 5 to 10% over the last few months.
Young said the Cafe Rio mobile app and website have made it easier to order in advance. She also said while drive-thru and takeout service do make things a little safer, those only matter if employees are being as clean and safe as possible while handling food.
“We have always emphasized cleaning and sanitizing, constantly,” Young said.
Finances and employee policy
Rusconi said escalating wages have made it tough for him to stay in the black. Increasing costs have prevented him from opening another location or expanding hours at his current site.
However, he said, COVID-19 has reminded him there is more to restaurant life than simply racing toward more profits.
“It’s very emotional,” Rusconi said in describing the toll the business takes on all employees. “I gave everyone a paid week off in July just for rest. And we have been as liberal as we can be in letting staff use paid time off.”
Rusconi said getting a COVID-19 test immediately upon showing symptoms is a dramatic change that seems permanent.
Stidham said he was fortunate to have been in good financial position as a businessman at the start of COVID-19 restrictions in early 2020 — and he knows many businesspeople who weren’t. He was able to pay staff to stay home for a couple of stretches and has been fortunate to keep his staff mostly intact.
Young said Cafe Rio employees have a hotline to call with health concerns. There are weekly meetings in which management pushes out any new health information or policy to all employees.
If anyone becomes sick after being in a Cafe Rio Store, Young said, that store is immediately closed for at least the rest of the day for deep cleaning.
Rusconi said he knows some restaurant employees, especially the youngest, are often simply seeking employment. Many others, however, make a career of it; it’s a large part of their identities.
“Some jobs feel hard if you’re not trying to have fun every day,” Rusconi said. “We all have high expectations. We all have pride. It makes it easier to be good at something when you love it.”
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
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