What’s in Store if Austin Restaurants Reopen?

Mixed emotions here. As much of a restaurant fan as I am, the possibility of a “partial reopening of restaurants” is fraught with potential problems.

To begin with, restaurants (assuming they actually have the cash on hand for a full reopening) face many logistical challenges. There has been discussion that before customers are seated, they’d have to have their temperatures taken. No acceptable norm has been suggested, so if a potential customer’s temp is, say, 98.9, what do you do? Kick him or her out? Unlikely.

Restaurants would also have to have disposable menus, which cost a lot. Frequent sanitation of tables would be critical for each turn.

Waiters would have to wear masks and gloves, as well as the kitchen staff from dishwashers to prep cooks on up to the sous chef and the exec chef.

Tables would have to be moved farther apart to insure six foot distancing. While this would be a hardship for larger restaurants, it would be virtually impossible for smaller restaurants to do.

As difficult as all of this may be, there’s no way to know how customers would respond to these changes. People who are sick of being locked up at home may find endless sanitization efforts (however well-intentioned) annoying. Those trying to recreate special nights at their former favorite restaurants may be disappointed.

So it comes down to this: frankly I don’t see how partially reopening a restaurant, given the current health restrictions, can really work. I think we’ll see a lot of restaurants continue to stay with the curbside takeout and delivery models currently in place until a full reopening is actually practical.

Until then, a giant tip of the hat to restaurateurs like Mourad Belkacem (The Texican Cafe), Hoover Alexander (Hoover’s Cooking), Ronald Cheng (Chinatown), and Amir Hajimaleki (District), who are still paying employees and taking care of their health insurance while they wait for the green light.