Pete Clark, the owner of Cafe Blue, said his favorite part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s most recent announcement relaxing rules for restaurants was that he can put salt and pepper shakers out on the tables again.
“We’re allowed to give you a real menu and we’re allowed to bring salt and pepper to the table in the form of a real shaker instead of those paper packets,” he said. “Those were the biggest changes to me, and I think a giant step toward normal.”
Abbott said he would allow businesses to expand pandemic limits on capacity in most of the state to 75% starting Sept 21, citing a decline in coronavirus hospitalizations. The announcement included restaurants, retail, office buildings, manufacturing, gyms, libraries and museums.
The governor has since said that county judges in areas with low COVID-19 hospitalization rates can decide whether to allow bars and similar establishments within their jurisdiction to reopen at 50% with safety requirements in place.
Cafe Blue has a location in the Hill Country Galleria in Bee Cave, and Clark said that while it is not possible to increase the capacity of the restaurant to 75% while maintaining social distancing, he feels the governor’s order has boosted the public’s confidence in indoor dining. While demand for indoor dining is usually behind the capacity allowances, he said, every time the state increases capacity for indoor dining and retail, he has seen a jump in in-person business.
“It’s more about consumer confidence to us than ‘Can we squeeze in two more tables?’” he said.
Several other restaurant owners in Westlake and Lake Travis expressed a similar sentiment, although some said that this increase in indoor dining has come at the expense of online orders and sales have yet to go up.
Chad Franks, owner of Schmidt Family Barbeque, said that to keep six feet of space between each table he has not changed the restaurant’s layout to add more capacity since the governor’s announcement. However, he said he has seen more customers return to his restaurant instead of placing sales online or for delivery.
“What I’ve seen is my online services and delivery services are way down, but dine in and people doing take out are back up,” he said. “It hasn’t resulted in an increase in sales. I’m still flat, it’s just flip flopped.”
He said the restaurant, which is also in the Galleria, has consistently been about one-quarter below regular sales levels each month since March. Still, he said having more customers back in the restaurant has been a welcome change.
“From an employee and an owner standpoint, we were depressed because we had nobody in our restaurant, we were just running food out to cars,” he said. “Now we are seeing our old customers again, and some new ones.”
Olivia Frey, owner of Paris in a Bite in West Lake Hills, said the biggest uptick in business for her came when she opened the doors to her bakery about a month ago. Her store is still at about 50% capacity to ensure people are able to social distance, and she said she set up separate entrances and exits and other safety measures. She said her sales are increasing as they always do this time of year.
“People prefer staying outside. I leave a maximum number of tables outside,” she said. “We respect all the rules. We all wear masks all the time and I think the store has been organized to respect everything, and even people who are very anxious about the virus feel comfortable coming here.”
Sarah Platt, a partner owner of the Caravan Co-Op in the Galleria, said that in her experience capacity is less of a critical issue for retail stores than it is for restaurants, since retail stores do not have the same kind of rush hours around meal times as dining establishments. While her store has raised capacity to 75%, she said business has stayed steady.
“I think we’re going to notice it but I think it’s going to be more around the holidays,” she said. “The more they open things up to the public, the more occupancy we’re allowed, I think we will start seeing it.”
Platt said she has not had much of an issue with people refusing to wear masks or follow safety protocol. A number of restaurant owners said that issues with mask compliance has decreased dramatically as people got more used to the new rules.
“When it was first initiated we did have a handful that would come in and get belligerent about it, maybe one or two a week,” Franks said. “But now that this is a new way of life we haven’t had an issue with that in six or eight weeks.”
Clark said that while there are sometimes people who get upset about the safety rules being too strict or not strict enough, he is doing his best to follow state guidelines.
“The state gives us the rules and we follow the rules,” he said. “We don’t get to regulate by our opinion, we have to regulate by state law.”
Platt said she has been pleasantly surprised with customer support of the store, which sells handmade items from locals across the Austin area.
“So many people are standing up and shopping at small businesses and being really supportive,” she said. “We’re just really grateful because it hasn’t been as scary as it could have been.”
Frank said he hopes support of local restaurants continues to increase as the year moves forward.
“I know times are tough for everybody; if people could dine out I would sure love to see people try to support the local restaurants, not only mine but everybody’s,” he said. “I don’t see it as competition, we’re all just trying to pay bills. Support the local restaurants, your mom and pop and locally owned ones.”
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