Check out the giant inflatable inner-tube tables a Maryland bar plans to use to make sure customers social distance

• A Maryland restaurant is readying a creative tactic to ensure customers social distance.
• Huge inflatable inner tubes on wheels will be given to customers waiting at the bar when it reopens to make sure they stay 6 feet away from each other.
• The bumper car tables give patrons a fun and safe way to eat, drink, and enjoy each other's company safely.
• Restaurants are trying to find fun ways to keep customers safe as states begin reopening a patchwork of businesses.

A Maryland restaurant has found a simple solution to ensure customers maintain social distancing — giant inflatable inner tubes.

Shawn and Donna Harman have owned Fish Tales Bar & Grill in Ocean City, MD for 37 years and recently bought 10 new inner tube tables to keep customers 6 feet apart, according to The Baltimore Sun. The inflatable inner tubes are portable tables that move on wheels and make for good bumper cars. We first learned of the novel idea from a report from Fox News.

Maryland has reopened some businesses in the state including hair salons, retail stores, and manufacturers. Restaurants still remain closed, except for drive-thru and take-out, CNN reported. But when restaurants reopen, Fish Tale's innovative social distancing technique will be ready to roll.

Donna Harman's cousin Erin Cermak owns Revolution Event Design & Production, a Baltimore-based company that built the tables, according to the Sun's report.

The tables are 38 inches tall and can handle people as short as 4 feet, 10 inches and as tall as 6 feet, 2 inches. Each table costs $400 dollars and an additional $100 to customize.

"Our core is creativity, our core is crazy and fun and re-engineering normal things," Cermak told the Sun. "We try to make our events buzzworthy and interactive, and we try to come up with weird things for people to do. This is more of an extension of what the company is."

Fish Tales opened take-out options Friday and plans to use the inner tube tables for customers waiting to be seated as well for those who normally sit at the bar once the restaurant is open for dine-in, according to CNN.

Fish Tales employees and friends tested out the tables Saturday when customers were waiting to pick up food and asked to try them too, the Sun's reported.

"I mean, it's a novelty, it's cool," Shawn Harmon told CNN. "It's a great photo opportunity for them."

—Camila Fernández (@CamilaFNews) May 18, 2020

Fish Tales isn't the only restaurant getting creative with social distancing protocols. A Virginia chef intends to fill his restaurant's empty tables with mannequins so empty seats used to social distance will have a bit of character added.

Read the original article on Business Insider