The Covid-19 Pandemic has caused so many parts of our lives to come to a halt for a full year. A variety of businesses have had to learn how to continue to operate under pandemic conditions and find ways to keep their doors open and employees on the payroll. For one local restaurant– BuffaLouie’s–it meant turning to curb-side pickup and opening the restaurant at only half-capacity.
The new “Curbside Culture” has spread throughout so many parts of Bloomington. Some restaurants have even allowed customers to dine-in on a limited basis which allows for social distancing but only to a certain extent.
BuffaLouie’s employee, Sierra Draughn says the restaurant is functioning at half capacity for dine-in customers. They are allowing about half the capacity that they usually would to actually come in and enjoy the dine in experience.
“Until everything goes back to normal we can only have the restaurant at half capacity and that will be about… normally it’s 96 and I guess we can do about 48 right now. And on really busy days… the weekends we will actually have to have somebody at the door,” said Draughn.
BuffaLouie’s Employee, Sierra Draughn, speaks about what adjustments had to be made in the establishment to fit this pandemic.
For customers, the pandemic dine-in experience has now become routine but yet so different this year. People have to stay six feet apart and wear masks in common areas away from the tables because social gatherings are so limited. Even something as small as a family dinner has to be planned weeks in advance to make sure that all customers are safe and socially distant. This means that customers should not be fluctuating in and out of restaurants at a high speed, giving the business a lower risk of being a potential spreader.
For major holidays and events, businesses had to plan ahead to make sure that they had a routine for taking orders and managing crowd flow to deal with what could look like a crazy day- between customers calling to place their orders and people trying to occupy reservations for their favorite food spots.
General Manager of BuffaLouie’s, James Douglas, spoke about the conditions of the restaurant during the pandemic and said…
“Usually on weekends people are lined up all the way down the street, sometimes double parked for their curbside pickup. For the Super Bowl this year, it went swimmingly.”
General Manager, James Douglas, spoke about what Super Bowl weekend looks like in a pandemic for the restaurant.
Everything over the past year has been so different but, that shouldn’t stop people from being able to enjoy their favorite foods- even if it’s in their own homes, delivered by carryout, with their loved ones. To find out how your favorite restaurant will get you your food be sure to call the establishment before hand and always preserve reservations ahead of time.
