Restaurants in reopened states face a dilemma: follow safety guidelines and lose money, or flout safety guidelines to make a profit.Social distancing safety guidelines enforce half or quarter capacity for sit-down dining as restaurants reopen, but it's nigh-impossible for restaurants to profit without more access to dining space.- As summer approaches, a new solution is presenting itself: opening up streets, sidewalks, and other outdoor public spaces as restaurant dining spaces.
- New York City, Washington, DC, Milwaukee, and Berkeley are some of the many cities across America that are considering legislation to repurpose streets and sidewalks as outdoor dining spaces.
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As summer approaches, it's becoming apparent that business as usual is still months away. And even as states allow restaurants to reopen dining rooms, capacity is still limited to 50% or even 25% — limits that make it nigh impossible for restaurants to make a profit.
However, without social distancing restrictions, restaurants are at risk of becoming infection hotspots.
A January study investigating a COVID-19 cluster at a restaurant in China discovered that the air conditioning spread the virus from one infected individual to nine people at the restaurant. Even with regulated airflow, normal speech produces virus droplets that remain in the air for eight minutes.
Cities across America are exploring the expansion of outdoor dining as a possible solution to restaurants' dilemma. On May 5, Tampa temporarily closed a number of streets to allow restaurants to expand their dining spaces outdoors, and Cincinnati followed closely on May 9. Washington, DC, Milwaukee, Berkeley, New York City, and other cities have introduced similar measures.
The National Restaurant Association's guidelines for reopening sit-down dining enforce social distancing requirements that include reducing seating capacity by at least half. However, most restaurants only make money when full or close to full, meaning that they cannot make a profit if they follow guidelines requiring them to rope off every other booth and space out tables at least six feet apart. Letting restaurants expand their seating into streets and sidewalks may present a temporary solution to that conundrum.
Restaurants are some of the businesses most at risk of closing permanently due to pandemic-related financial woes. By the end of April, eight million restaurant workers had lost their jobs, and the industry faces $240 billion in losses by the end of 2020.
Restaurant owners have largely been behind the lobbying efforts to pass measures that would allow them to expand open-air dining into streets. As Eater reports, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association has pushed for such legislation in San Francisco, so far with no success.
In each jurisdiction, proponents of open-air dining face different challenges. In New York, expensive licensing fees for sidewalk dining would have to be waived. In Milwaukee, street closures would build upon existing sidewalk dining permit infrastructure.
Tampa's temporary street closures will last a total of fourteen days and end on May 18. If the trial of open-air street dining is successful, the city will consider bringing it back as a longer-term measure. It will also serve as a proof-of-concept for other cities exploring similar options.
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