May 11, 2020
Here’s why one popular downtown Hartford restaurant won’t reopen for outdoor-only dining
HBJ Photo | Joe Cooper
Salute restaurant in downtown Hartford.
By Sean Teehan, Greg Bordonaro
Restaurants on Saturday received new guidelines for how they can reopen outdoor dining service starting May 20, but not all eateries are eager to begin welcoming guests on-site.
For example, popular downtown Hartford Italian restaurant and wine bar Salute will not open outdoor-only service because it doesn’t make financial sense, according to Managing Partner Andrew Rizzo.
The number of customers Salute could serve at its outdoor patio near the intersection of Trumbull and Jewell streets wouldn't be enough to financially justify reopening, he said.
"The cons just greatly, greatly outweigh the pros right now for many reasons," Rizzo said. "We agree with some of the other restaurateurs who said we wouldn't consider opening unless we were about 75% capacity."
Salute’s decision not to reopen shows the limitations of Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan to allow restaurants to serve guests outdoors beginning May 20. Many eateries across the state have little or no room for outdoor dining and when you add in the social distancing requirements it's just not feasible for many locations.
The state’s top restaurant trade group has expressed some disappointment in Lamont’s restrictions-easing plan saying it doesn’t go far enough “to save thousands of restaurants on the brink of going out of business.”
Meantime, many municipalities, including Hartford, are considering changes to their zoning regulations to lift limits on the size of outdoor seating areas.
Still, Lamont has the tough task of balancing public health and safety vs. the economic security of the state’s residents.
Salute's patio has capacity for 60 people, but with social distancing measures the restaurant could only host about 20 customers at a time, Rizzo said.
Salute, a 10-year-old restaurant that's been closed since March 16, employs about 40 people, Rizzo said. It received $285,000 in funds from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program.
But despite the financial headwinds, Rizzo said the restaurant is in a stable enough financial position to weather the storm, and its partners would rather wait until they're confident they can safely open for 75% capacity than rush a partial reopening.
"When we open, we want to do it 130% right," Rizzo said.
New rules for May 20 reopening
Lamont late last month announced a four-staged approach to reopening Connecticut's economy, largely shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic, that allows restaurants to begin serving customers at outdoor tables spaced far enough from each other to practice social distancing.
On Saturday his office released a report that provides fuller details on the restrictions restaurants will have to consider when they reopen.
Indoor and bar areas must remain closed. Other rules require restaurants to:
- Install visual social distancing markers to encourage customers to remain 6 ft apart.
- Ensure tables are at least 6+ ft apart.
- Eliminate buffet self-serve stations; only permit employees to serve from food counters.
- Rearrange workstations so that food workers do not face one another and are 6 ft apart where possible.
- Offer paper menus and dispose after guests have ordered, or display menu on a wall/white board, and/or encourage customers to view the menu on their phone.
- Use rolled or packaged silverware.
- Install touchless appliances wherever possible.
- All employees are required to wear a facemask or other cloth face covering that completely covers the nose and mouth, unless doing so would be contrary to his or her health or safety due to medical conditions.
- Customers are required to bring and wear masks or cloth face coverings.
- Hand sanitizer must be made available at entrance points and common areas.
For a full look at the restrictions restaurants and other businesses will face starting May 20, click here.
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Anonymous
May 14, 2020
The governor should look into the partition option between tables for inside dining again! Look into low cost partitions That are roughly 5 ft high that can fold around tables and that will help tremendously with safety and consumer confidence! Our restaurant businesses need to survive and above all get back to normal.
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