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Phase 2: Hopes of Capitol Hill food and drink survival at ‘50%’

Capitol Hill food and drink venues have started telling customers about a new requirement for service. If you want to eat or drink, you first will need to provide a phone number and an email address.

The “contact tracing” data collection — familiar to, say, registering on a new website but not necessarily grabbing a burger for takeout — is part of a new roster of requirements and restrictions for Washington’s restaurant and bar industry as the state prepares for its “Phase 2” loosening of the COVID-19 lockdown that could be in place in June if infection rates continue to fall.

The opportunity to restart comes with a roster of changes in business practices and resources that must be in place for restaurants, cafes, bars, and taverns around Capitol Hill to reopen. Top of mind for most owners trying to sort out what comes next for the hundreds of venues and thousands of workers across the area is how to make the new math pencil out.

“We’re going to be back where we were in 2008 with the recession,” Capitol Hill food and drink veteran John Sundstrom of Lark says. “Our hope… this is such a big reset moment for the economy and the way we look at people’s lives… there is an opportunity for change.”

State requirements issued for the industry this week include 13 points of new guidelines:

  1. Hand sanitizer should be available at entry for all staff and patrons (assuming supply
    availability).
  2. No bar seating is permitted during Phase 2. If an establishment has bar seating it must be closed off to prohibit use.
  3. If the establishment does not offer table service, they must have protocols in place to ensure adequate social distancing at food and drink pick-up stations, and seating within their dining area.
  4. All parties and tables must be 5 guests or less.
  5. Guest occupancy must be 50% of maximum building occupancy or lower as determined by the fire code. Outdoor seating is permitted but must also be at 50% capacity. Outdoor seating does not count toward the building occupancy limit. Outdoor seating must follow all other requirements in this document.
  6. Tables must be placed far enough apart when measured from occupied chair to occupied chair, to ensure dine-in guests seated at a table are a minimum of 6 feet away from guests at adjacent table, or there must be a physical barrier or wall separating booths or tables.
  7. It is strongly suggested customers wear a cloth face covering anytime they are not seated at the table (while being seated or leaving, or while going to the restroom).
  8. Buffets and salad bars are not permitted at this time but may be addressed through subsequent interpretive guidance.
  9. If the establishment offers table service, create a daily log of all customers and maintain that daily log for 30 days, including telephone/email contact information, and time in. This will facilitate any contact tracing that might need to occur.
  10. Single use menus are required for in-person dining.
  11. Any condiments typically left on the table (ketchup, soy sauce, etc.) must be single-use or sanitized after each use.
  12. Restaurants must have implemented a plan to ensure proper physical distancing in
    lobby/waiting areas/payment counters.
  13. Minimize the number of staff serving any given table. It is strongly recommended that one staff person take a table’s order, bring all of their beverages/food/utensils, take their payment, etc.

You can find the full announcement of the new requirements here.

Some changes will be trivial to manage like rules about things like ketchup bottles and single-use, disposable menus. But others like a limit to 50% occupancy and no bar seating allowed during the reopening phase could require Capitol Hill restaurants to reinvent the way they operate and change their essence on the fly.

At Lark on the backside of Pike/Pine, Sundstrom said he was still working through how the changes will fit together in a fine dining setting. “The whole thing about this is our rent is not based on half capacity,” Sundstrom said.

“With fine dining, a lot of what you get is the ambience and great service,” he said. “Going forward, that’s going to be one of the things that is difficult to address.”

COVID-19 updates: Phase 1 begins, what’s in Phase 2 (and 3 and 4), King County removes antibody testing case counts, COVID-19 yard art

And it’s not like Sundstrom and the staff he has been able to keep working haven’t been busy. They’ve already swung the business around Lark, its sister sandwich joint Slab, and Southpaw Pizza to takeout and delivery during the outbreak restrictions. Now it is time for more new ideas.

One notion on the table at Lark is transitioning to a set menu, sold in advance and limiting the interaction between customer and staff to a welcome, service, and a friendly goodbye.

“We know it’s going to be weird,” Sundstrom said.

On the other end of the Hill and much earlier in the Capitol Hill food and drink lifespan, E Roy’s Cook Weaver is also shaping strategies for reopening beyond takeout and delivery. The first thing Nile Klein and Zac Reynolds thought of is space.

“All of a sudden we have a week to open a brand new restaurant,” Klein said.

SAVED BY OUTSIDE DINING?
The Loveless Building restaurant is a cozy venue. Klein and Reynolds said one strategy that could help would be to add outside table service. Inspired by the Vilnius strategy of creating a “vast open-air cafe,” some level of relaxation of Seattle’s sidewalk cafe rules could help.

Chef Reynolds said that, like Sundstrom, Cook Weaver was also considering transitioning to a set menu for sit-down customers.

“It might be challenging for us to have the same kind of revenue, so we’re maybe thinking about a tasting menu,” Reynolds said. “But I’m wary about that because it’s not really been our market.”

In the meantime, a rent “hiatus” from their building landlords is helping even as it has been difficult to keep staff.

With online orders, curbside pickup, and window shopping, how Capitol Hill retailers are facing ‘phased’ reopening

Space and room for customers is also a key factor in the reopening plans for one of Broadway’s newest restaurants. Co-owner Gregg Holcomb says Olmstead’s huge square footage is now an asset. The old bones of the Broadway Grill support a relatively giant restaurant — a liability from the rent end of things — but a setting Holcomb believes will work even at 50% capacity.

“We’re excited about getting bodies back at Olmstead. For us, getting to 50% capacity is easier because it’s such a large space.”

Getting to the next phase will also help the restaurant start to grow its customers, Holcomb said, after its late 2019 debut. Holcomb’s other Broadway business Witness with an established track record has done much better during the takeout and delivery only phase while Olmstead has struggled. With hope of the return of sit down customers, Holcomb and his first time owner counterparts Jesse Elliott, and Lisa Tomlinson are ready to get Olmstead back into motion.

“If I had to put a silver lining on it, when you open a new restaurant, you make your best shot,” Holcomb said. “This kind of gave us a breath to see what was working.”

Of course, with the capacity limits, Phase 2 will bring new challenges for what has been going smoothly at Witness. The cocktail and fried chicken bar might not kick back into full motion until the COVID-19 restrictions are more completely lifted, Holcomb said.

GOD FORBID, A SUMMER WITHOUT BARS
Capacity issues might keep more of the Hill’s booze-first venues shuttered through summer. In our report on the liquor board allowing the sale of mixed drinks for to go and takeoutRevolver bar owner Gary Reynolds said cutting down the number of customers in a venue like his that is almost completely dependent on booze sales just won’t pencil out. “There are times when it is slow, sure,” Reynolds said. “You make your money when you have your busy nights.”

“The thing about it is, nobody wants to go to an empty bar,” he added. “You want to go to a bar where there’s like 10 people?”

Seattle nightlife veteran and Capitol Hill restaurant and bar owner Linda Derschang agrees with Reynolds and said she thinks the customer cap will keep many bars from reopening. “I just don’t see how it will wok,” she told CHS when the capacity limits were being discussed a few weeks before the announcement. Her bet: 50% might take on even greater meaning this summer — half of the Hill’s bar-only venues might not reopen.

Still, it was too early to say whether Derschang’s Linda’s would expand beyond its current weekend-only takeout service. The food and drink veteran was more sanguine about the prospects for her larger and more food focused Oddfellows cafe.

Kate Opatz, co-owner of E Olive Way’s Montana also said the capacity issues might mean the bar stays shuttered even as her other bar business, natural wine bar La Dive is prepared to ramp up in the next phase. The difference? The E Pike bar has pivoted to a new model as a neighborhood bottle shop with online sales.

While industry vets Holcomb and Derschang seem set to rally around their larger assets, another neighborhood chef owner tells CHS he is paring down for Phase 2. Shota Nakajima transformed his newly opened E Pike bar Taku into a whirl of takeout and delivery activity through much of the lockdown but has temporarily closed the joint for a retooling in preparation for a stepped-up effort once the Phase 2 loosening is in place. He said he is centering his effort on Taku in the heart of Pike/Pine while keeping his high-end Adana darkened at 15th and Pine.

Whether a small strip of a bar or a large capacity venue, one secret of survival in the new Capitol Hill food and drink economy might end up being more than table layouts or menus. Sundstrom at Lark said there is the likelihood that customers will be afraid to dine out and seek out safe, trustworthy experiences.

“You can flip the switch but it doesn’t mean people are ready to go out in the old ways,” Sundstrom said. Finding a format that meets requirements and truly keeps customers and employees safe — and feeling safe — is key.

Employees will be at the center of that feeling of safety. The state guidelines include requirements for worker education “in the language they understand best about coronavirus and how to prevent transmission” as well as face masks and protective gear “such as gloves, goggles, face shields and face masks as appropriate or required to employees for the activity being performed.”

On 19th Ave E, few have seen more in Capitol Hill food and drink than Eric Banh. The Monsoon founder has an even-keel perspective on reopening. He’s not looking to reinvent Monsoon, really, or make many changes beyond directions he and sister Sophie Banh had already set out on — never turn down business, embrace things like delivery and takeout, stay nimble. And, Eric adds, be ready to “work harder to lose less money.”

“I’m excited to open again,” Eric Banh said. “But I’m not excited. Rent you still pay full. Utilities you still pay full.”

Still, a Monsoon and Ba Bar at half capacity is the start of recovery. Banh argues that, if you are going to open your doors for service and fire up your stoves, every little bit of new business you can add will help. Banh also argues that there is more to it than revenue and profit.

“I’m headed to work right now. That is good even if you don’t make money. Life, you need to socialize. Have a cup of coffee,” Banh said. “I may die tomorrow, right?”

 

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25 Comments
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CapHillEscapee
CapHillEscapee
3 years ago

They really should use contact tracing to determine whether or not someone is overweight, since heart failure kills more people per year that conorna. Oh wait, that would be #bodyshaming.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
3 years ago
Reply to  CapHillEscapee

No, what that would be is stupid (but you already know that)– because obesity isn’t contagious.

CD Neighbor
CD Neighbor
3 years ago
Reply to  CapHillEscapee

Your being obese doesn’t kill anyone but you….. but you dragging around COVID-19 could.

Understand?
#youhavearightokillyourselfbutonlyyourself

CD Neighbor
CD Neighbor
3 years ago
Reply to  CD Neighbor

let me finish that thought….
You dragging around COVID-19 will harm other people.

#youarenttheonlypersonintheworld

C Doom
C Doom
3 years ago
Reply to  CapHillEscapee

Being fat isn’t contagious.

Being a troll sometimes can be, unfortunately.

Gordon
3 years ago

If you want to eat in a street cafe this summer, (we called them Next Level Streeteries), please sign this letter of support: http://seattlegreenways.org/socialdistancingstreets/

Jules James
Jules James
3 years ago

Commercial socializing micro-managed by government. Government empowering the self-appointed to turn in violators of these convoluted edicts. Wow. Good luck to our taverns and restaurants — 50% survival rate for the summer of 2020 seems optimistic. (now please someone attack my very soul for prioritizing actual business life over potential Covid death)

Ummm
Ummm
3 years ago
Reply to  Jules James

can’t spend or work if you’re dead.

Eli
Eli
3 years ago
Reply to  Ummm

Plus, as we’ve seen in the south, people aren’t returning to businesses anyway.

e.g.: https://time.com/5835435/coronavirus-business-reopen-struggling/

P.S. If you want to die to save your favorite business, you can also commit suicide today and donate your assets to them. No need to wait.

(I don’t know you, but you’re probably more valuable to the world alive.)

Bob Barker
Bob Barker
3 years ago
Reply to  Ummm

I’m curious if you know what your odds are of dying to covid? Go look at actual data, and figure it out. Unless you’re old or have cancer or something I can guarantee it’s far less than many other things that you don’t give a second thought about. The vast majority of the population is barely affected by this. The vast majority of the population will not die from it. There’s no reason the vast majority of the population couldn’t still be going to businesses, even if you intentionally infected every single one of them.

Blaj
Blaj
3 years ago
Reply to  Ummm

you haven’t paid much attention. The main goal of all these efforts is that people don’t transmit the disease. Whether it would be fatal or not for you doesn’t make a difference.

SL
SL
3 years ago
Reply to  Ummm

Barker: “There’s no reason the vast majority of the population couldn’t still be going to businesses, even if you intentionally infected every single one of them.”

You realize you just committed murder, right?

C Doom
C Doom
3 years ago
Reply to  Jules James

How dare the government try to save my life, the nerve of those guys.

Ummm
Ummm
3 years ago

“Unless you’re old or have cancer or something”

That list includes a lot of people I don’t want to help die. Sure, they are going to pass away at some point, but I don’t want to kill them.

Eric Bustad
Eric Bustad
3 years ago

“phone number and an email address”?
Or is it “phone number or an email address”?

Test what
Test what
3 years ago

Hmmm…
To protect the privacy of individuals maybe wa should create email addresses for people and a portal for them to login. That way identity thieves and scammers cant cause havoc my stealing or copying those lists.
Sign up should be voluntary as well as signing in at door of restuarant. You cant force people to divulge personal info that can easily be stolen. People will just make up fake numbers and emails. Or worse use someone else’s. Theres so many ways it could go wrong. At least with voluntary covid email you could cut through the noise of that and streamline the response.

Anti-itnA
Anti-itnA
3 years ago
Reply to  Test what

Well, while you’re waiting for them to solve this problem for you, you can solve it for yourself by creating various email addresses to use for track and trace purposes.
Just like many intelligent people have pre-paid cards that hey use for online shopping, other folks have emails they use only for signing up for things.

Paul
Paul
3 years ago

Nope. This will reduce demand more than 50%. Nobody wants the possibility of some random encounter (they may not have infected them at all) but will still be required to quarantine at home. I don’t want to have that hanging over me for months. Worrying about the phone ringing. Nope.

This will literally kill small restaurants and is the final straw.

RWK
RWK
3 years ago

While that long list of rules/regulations is probably necessary, it means that dining out will not be a very pleasant experience, and this in turn means that many restaurants will fail.

Once an effective vaccine is in place, things may look different, hopefully.

rac
rac
3 years ago
Reply to  RWK

Bureaucrats Gone Wild.

You think it will be rolled back? How many of the post 9/11 airport practices have been rolled back. Shoes off, 3oz bottles, etc. 20 years later! Zero progress.

You must believe there will be a bullet proof vaccine, which we have a pretty poor track record of developing.

GG Palin
GG Palin
3 years ago
Reply to  rac

Especially as we are approaching daily 9/11 death totals from this virus.

My outrage blinds me to progress
My outrage blinds me to progress
3 years ago
Reply to  rac

Pre-Check Program, Global Entry Program, Clear…any of these means no more shoe removal, etc. Try to keep up!

freqflyer
freqflyer
3 years ago
Reply to  rac

If you consider those programs progress, I’m guessing you are too young to have flown before 9/11.

COVID Cure
COVID Cure
3 years ago

Do we really need to shut down the country because fat people can’t say no to a Cinnabon at Gate 22?

90% of NYC deaths had comorbidity factors.

Protect the elderly and stop eating donuts.

Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
3 years ago

How about pegging restaurant rents to Covid-19 seating capacity for the next 6 months, or at least amending that “triple net” policy that was killing businesses even before the crisis?

Is there any legal authority that could do this, and thereby make it possible for Seattle to have a diversity of restaurants again?