![]() “We, like pretty much every restaurant in the city, are having a very hard time finding employees, and are just not staffed well enough to go full capacity and full operating hours… We will be taking our time, and adding things as we can.” “The opening up of the city is exciting, but doesn’t change a whole lot for us,” he writes to Eater. Indoor dining is back at full capacity, but outdoor dining will remain popular during Chicago summers. Barbera says the restaurant has not received any federal financial assistance. His team this week has begun offering draft beer and serving customers at the bar, but will only open six of 12 total seats. Despite offering $21-$22 per hour per a One Fair Wage model, he’s struggling to find enough workers. These include Beard & Belly, Edgewater’s beer and comfort food spot that opened in April 2020, says co-owner Andew Barbera. Labor shortages continue to stymie efforts to resume business at full capacity, even for operators who prioritize a living wage. Walker has news: He’s planning to open new locations over the next few months in Wicker Park and Beverly.įor some local restaurants, the shift is a full reopening in name only. The lifting of restrictions also means future projects can progress. Mott St, a Wicker Park restaurant, has resorted to paper help wanted fliers. We want to make sure we’re all being safe at the end of the day, and make sure we’re fully staffed.” “We’re learning - this is all new for us. “We’re going to ease into it and take some baby steps,” he says. They’ll also keep using a full-body disinfectant machine that checks customers’ temperature and sprays a sanitizing mist on each person who comes in - a pricey but worthwhile investment, Walker says. Though Walker can seat more than 250 in Chatham, he and wife Shae plan to steadily increase indoor capacity over time. Marc Walker, co-owner of playful soul food restaurant Ooh Wee It Is! in Chatham and suburban Burnham, says he is eager to transition from long lines of carryout patrons to bustling dining rooms. Barry Brecheisen/Eater Chicagoįor restaurateurs who entered the industry during the pandemic, a return to normal means changing the way they’ve always done business. “A lot has changed over the past year, and our vision and philosophy around many things have evolved as well… we’re so thrilled to feel like it is once again safe to open our doors to our friends and neighbors.” Bars, like Estereo in Logan Square, have seen increased business. ![]() “Ultimately, we have spent the past year doing what was dictated by our conscience simply put, we were and are unwilling to ask our team to essentially risk their lives to come to work, particularly given that there was the possibility of folks collecting unemployment,” she writes to Eater. Schor will also limit the size of gatherings for the time being, and keep Dorothy - her basement cocktail lounge - closed until later in the summer. Once service resumes, Split-Rail won’t distance tables in the dining room but will require patrons to wear masks when out of their seats. Split-Rail in West Town, which has exclusively offered takeout and delivery since March 2020, won’t fully reopen Friday but will return for indoor dining “very soon,” says chef and co-owner Zoe Schor. Some are waiting to see how competition handles customers. That pattern has become a tradition over the last year, with elected officials giving the service industry little notice when adjusting capacity limits. It should come as no surprise that not every restaurant or bar is ready to fully open. Daisies, which continues to hold a Sunday market with vendors, has recently reopened its dining room. Large parties of more than 10 can now book reservations without covertly reserving multiple tables and pretending friends sitting separately don’t know each other. Some restaurants still required masks while others posted signs telling vaccinated customers that facial coverings were no longer needed. But over the last few weeks, another reality has emerged - one with vaccinated servers wearing pins. Innovations born out of the pandemic, like the wide use of menu QR codes, will likely remain. Those who were caught paid the price through fines. ![]() Some avoided detection from city officials who patrolled the streets looking for violators. Many didn’t follow the restrictions, with reports of restaurants ignoring capacity limits and social distancing rules. This was happening while applying for unemployment and Payment Protection Plan (PPP) loans, all under the threat of potential exposure. The last 15 months have been been a strange ride with restaurant workers trying to create a comfy atmosphere for patrons to keep businesses from tanking. Signs like this, advising customers of a restaurant’s mask policy, will remain even as pandemic restrictions lift.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |