Scary times for Tri-Cities restaurants won’t end when dining rooms reopen

Roger Pearson is getting ready for June 1.

The husband of Hill’s Restuarant and Lounge owner Nancy Galstad is measuring the distance between tables and making other changes to make it safer for customers.

“We’ve been moving chairs. We’ve reduced our capacity and seating by approximately 50 percent,” he said. “We have moved chairs and some tables into storage. What we’re now trying to do is configure our seating capacity to meet the 50 percent the state is going to require.”

Like most restaurants across the Tri-Cities, they are hoping to be able to seat people inside the popular Vista Way diner on June 1 after being closed since mid-March.

What they know is that Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan allows restaurants to open dining rooms with half the capacity, and with no more than five people at a table during the second phase.

The Washington Hospitality Association put out a list of six actions restaurants can take now, such as making plans for socially distancing people in the lobby, planning for health screenings for employees and finding face masks and creating a hand-washing program.

“Our entire industry is dependent on each other to get this right, safely serve our community and get our hard-working employees back to work doing what they love,” association President Anthony Anton said in a message to members.

While restaurants have been allowed to serve takeout or delivery throughout the closure, it’s been barely enough business to keep some afloat, say industry officials.

Pearson described this as one of the lowest points for Hill’s restaurant, which was gutted by fire in 2018 and just reopened last year.

“We’re going to be thrilled about opening,” he said. “It’s going to be great to see our customers again.”

Loyal customers

Michelle Nilson’s SagePort Grille in Richland’s Wye also has been supported by loyal customers that are helping them weather the closure.

“We have the best people that are coming into our restaurant,” Nilson said. “We thought we had good customers and good crew before this happened. .... We’ve never seen anything like this before.”

She has been running the small restaurant on Columbia Park Trail near Bateman Island since 1993, and this has been one of the scariest times since she started.

“I think the biggest thing for us that has hit is having to pay my quarterly taxes for when times were good,” she said. “We’re barely hanging on right now.”

Her bank balance has been something she looks at with worry, she said. While customers are continuing to support the restaurant, and picking up Bloody Mary mix kits, they’re still only bringing in about half of the revenue they normally would.

And she’s worried the June 1 opening date may be delayed again.

And, like many other restaurant owners, she’s concerned what will happen when they open their dining room with half the capacity they had before.

If people stop ordering takeout at the same time they have limited seating that could be a huge blow.

But they’ve been trying to make other changes to be able to stay in business.

The restaurant is normally open for breakfast and lunch only, but Nilson is now offering dinners that people can take home and prepare for themselves.

Even that was complicated by a lack of takeout boxes. However, they found other ways to make it work.

Creative answers

The restaurants that are going to make it are the ones that get creative, said CG Public House and Catering owner Shirley Simmons.

Before the coronavirus hit, catering was 80 percent of their business. That included providing food for the WSU Tri-Cities branch campus in Richland, which is teaching only online courses currently.

“We have been doing fairly well on curbside and home delivery,” she told the Herald. “We did really well with liquor kits. We have our famous ‘Quarantini.’ ... We’re going to have to rely on this restaurant to get us through. We’re going to do the best job that we can to be one of the best restaurants that we can in the Tri-Cities.”

CG Public House was able to get a federal loan to put many of its employees back to work, but Simmons is concerned about how much money they will be able to make at 50 percent seating capacity at their restaurant on Clearwater Avenue and Bite at the Landing in Columbia Park.

They are expecting they will need to do more work when the dining rooms open, including sanitizing menus and the items on the tables between customers. The combination of more work with less money coming in is concerning.

Something new that CG Public House is trying is partnering with local vendors on drive-up events.

Mother’s Day weekend they brought in vendors including Frost Me Sweet, Mami’s Spicy Ceviche, Layered Cake Artistry, Great Harvest Bread Company, Fiesta Foods and Hot Tamales.

Hundreds of customers drive through their lot and picked up meals and items for Mother’s Day.

Bringing in the vendors is a way to help the entire community through the tough times, she said.

“We’ve been a business for over 40 years. This community is super important to us,” she said. “It’s a little scary ... but we’re also trying to work really hard at the same time.”