How Centre County restaurants, bars are embracing reopening — challenges and all
John Clickner, the head chef of Gigi’s Southern Table, let out a chuckle before settling on what the last two months felt like at his restaurant: “Groundhog Day.”
But with Centre County’s Friday move to the “green phase,” the least-restrictive phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s reopening plan, Clickner finally felt as if he could turn the page on a new day. After two months of takeout, and a monotonous slog of scattered business, Clickner at last opened his State College restaurant’s doors Friday to grateful customers.
“It’s a relief,” Clickner said, taking a respite after the lunch rush. “For the last couple months we were waiting, just like, ‘What are we doing? What are we doing?’ And, finally, it’s at least like we can plan on being back to ‘normal.’”
Friday’s move was a welcome — and needed — change for area restaurants. According to estimates provided by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, a nonprofit marketing organization, county restaurants lost about 85% of their revenue compared to the same two-month stretch last year (March 15-May 16).
Of course, Friday’s dine-in reopening doesn’t mean restaurants like Gigi’s can breathe easy just yet. Restaurant capacity is essentially capped at 50% to promote social distancing. (Specifically, restaurants must either stay under 50% of the stated fire capacity, or seated customers cannot be within 6 feet of another table’s customers.) And county residents haven’t yet returned to restaurants in droves, with many calling in to ask Gigi’s about its daily specials but many also remaining hesitant to visit due to lingering concerns about COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“It’d be foolish to think there’s going to be a mad rush of customers,” added Rob Schmidt, executive director of the Downtown State College Improvement District. “But I’ve been very pleased with the businesses that have opened up so far and the precautions they’re taking.”
What’s changed
A hostess in a black, Gigi’s-branded mask now greets customers. And all servers must now wear masks, as must customers — until they reach their tables.
A small placard is placed at every other table and reads, “Reserved for Social Distancing.” At the bar, plexiglass is installed after every fourth seat since the state now requires parties at the bar to be capped at four. (Tables can have as many as 10 guests.) And the salt and pepper shakers, cutlery, coasters, candles and the usual place-settings have been removed ahead of time.
There are small touches everywhere. Even the design of the simple menu had to be rethought. Menus can no longer be reused, so Gigi’s now offers a QR code so the menu pops up on guests’ phones — or customers can request a single-use menu.
“Almost every procedure that’s required, we were already doing,” Gigi’s manager Kristen Burns said. “We planned the (bar) partitions months ago. You have to think far ahead, and you have to be proactive. You can’t wait until the day before to say, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’”
That scene played out all over the county this past weekend. At Mad Mex, in downtown State College, a hostess in a dark blue mask stood outside the entrance to make sure customers complied. Otto’s Pub and Brewery showed off plexiglass barriers between every booth. Faccia Luna asked guests in parties of two to sit next to each other in booths, to increase social-distancing between tables. And Bonfatto’s in Bellefonte ramped up the cleaning to new levels.
“At first, it was a little strange having people come in because we were used to almost three months of just being curbside only,” said Dave Letterman, owner of Bonfatto’s. “But it was great to have people in. It was great to see loyal customers.”
Day 1/Challenges
Andi Hedit, the owner of the Hublersburg Inn, felt like “a ball of anxiousness” ahead of Friday’s reopening.
But her customer base didn’t let her down. The Hublersburg Inn was at “full” capacity — well, half capacity — and both the indoor seating and patio seating were buzzing Friday. In fact, the Hublersburg Inn had even expanded their outdoor seating area — which was mostly grass before — to accommodate more customers due to social distancing. And that wasn’t able to fit many more customers, either.
“The best thing is we actually get to see our customers face-to-face, or mask-to-mask right now,” Hedit said with a laugh. “My chef said it’s so nice to cook for people and not for boxes.”
About 20 miles southwest, at Cafe 210 West in downtown State College, a different scene played out. A line wrapped around the cafe, as many college students clamored for one of the few tables outside in the sun.
But, because no tables could be placed within 6 feet of the sidewalk, only a handful of tables were available. Lion’s Den, another downtown bar with outdoor seating, opted to remain closed because, it posted on Facebook, it felt the state’s guidelines were “a recipe to increase debt and do irreparable harm.”
None of bars and restaurants associated with the Hotel State College & Company were open, either. That included The Corner Room, Spats at the Grill, Bill Pickle’s Tap Room, Zeno’s Pub, The Basement and Chumley’s.
The plan is to reopen Pickle’s and The Corner Room late this week, and then gradually reopen the others while tweaking floor plans, replacing stock and communicating with vendors.
“We’re extremely excited and feeling positive going green,” said Curtis Schulman, operations director for Hotel State College & Company, “but on short notice and with a building as old as ours, it takes time to open up safely.”
Importance of reopening
Based on anecdotal data, many county restaurants that were open for takeout-only the past two months made between 10% and 35% of their normal revenue. (Four out of five restaurants told the Centre Daily Times their revenue fell between that margin, and that falls in line with the HVAB’s estimation that 85% of total revenue was lost.)
For restaurants and those who work there, the last two months have been an unprecedented challenge.
About half of the county’s restaurants were closed altogether and 85-90% of their staffs were laid off, according to a survey conducted by the HVAB. In the state, 20.4% of all unemployment claims through April came from the Leisure and Hospitality classification.
With Friday’s reopening, restaurants and bars around the county were able to hire more employees. Mad Mex was able to increase its staff size by nearly four times. Gigi’s increased from three to about 15. And the Hublersburg Inn took a small business loan for payroll, still losing part of its front-of-house staff but now actively hiring.
“The road to recovery will likely be slow and gradual,” HVAB President and CEO Fritz Smith said in a written statement. “People will begin to test the waters of venturing out and feeling comfortable doing so after being in isolation. But if there is one thing the shutdown demonstrated, it’s that we have a supportive and resilient community.”
Looking ahead
Gigi’s, and restaurants around the county, won’t fully recover from the last two months for quite some time.
But, they hope, the worst is over.
“The hardest time was the first two weeks, the not knowing,” Clickner said. “You didn’t know what was going on in the country. No one really knew. We weren’t busy at all the first week or so, and we didn’t know what was going to happen. Would we have a job in 2-3 months? It was tough.”
Friday didn’t erase two months of limited business, and it won’t change the reduced business for potentially as long as this pandemic lasts. But restaurants and bars around the county are in better shape today than they were a week ago.
And that’s a trend they all hope continues.
“There’s a little unease because it’s not in our hands,” Burns said. “It’s something we can’t control. But we’re just going to do our best.”
According to Schmidt, of the Downtown State College Improvement District, his group has been in talks with the borough about helping restaurants during this time — like exploring sidewalk accessibility options, allowing some places to expand outdoor seating and finding how to better cater to the local community.
Restaurants around the county are looking forward to the next step, when occupancy might increase to 75%. The Hublersburg Inn is even hoping to continue its live outdoor music sometime in July. Gigi’s, about 3 miles from downtown, is also looking forward to its customers returning so the restaurant can resume its raw bar, which is difficult to hold with limited patrons.
Normalcy hasn’t returned to Centre County, nor its restaurants and bars. Not yet. But it’s getting there. Owners and managers just hope, eventually, it can feel like it did before.
“We were in one of the best spots Gigi’s was ever in before this happened,” Burns said, referring to the pandemic. “We had a great fall and a great winter, which is usually unheard of in the restaurant industry. And it was really crushing when all this happened in March.
“We just want it back.”
