Coast restaurants scramble to prepare for Mother’s Day. Will diners reserve a table?
Restaurant owners are scrambling to get their businesses clean, staffed and ready to reopen this week before Mother’s Day.
It’s traditionally one of the busiest days of the year. In a year of coronavirus, the restaurant owners aren’t sure what to expect after Gov. Tate Reeves announced they can reopen starting Thursday — with social distancing.
From the fine dining restaurants to the neighborhood gathering spots, the restaurant owners say they are excited to get back in business after being closed for close to two months.
“I was hoping for a little more heads up,” said Austin Sumrall, owner/chef at White Pillars Restaurant and Lounge, but he said customers are ready.
“I’ve already had people text me about reservations,” he said a couple hours after the governor’s announcement.
“We always prided ourselves in being really clean,” he said, and now that’s even more important. He’s spacing 6 feet between chairs and he said tables are more like 9 feet apart.
“It felt a little silly doing curbside service out of a restaurant this size,” he said, but now he has the advantage of 12,000 square feet to spread out.
“Trying to make sure people feel safe when they’re dining with us is key,” Sumrall said.
What will change
Get ready for one-use menus, sanitizing stations at every door, servers wearing face masks and having their temperature checked every morning.
The beauty of Shaggy’s restaurants, said owner Ron Ladner, is they epitomize the new guidelines for safe dining.
“Everything’s outside,” he said, even the indoor dining that is open to the breezes off the beach in Biloxi, Gulfport and Pass Christian.
Still they are taking extra precautions. “We have masks,” he said, and a misting system they will use each day to sanitize in a manner that is eco-friendly and safe for people and pets.
“We think we have a better shot at building trust outside than inside,” he said.
Other restaurant owners also are emphasizing outdoor dining. Jourdan Nicaud said they are building a patio at the Fillup with Billups in Pass Christian for outdoor dining.
“We just ordered some umbrellas,” said Matthew Paul, one of the owners of Brick & Spoon restaurant near Edgewater Mall. “The weather is going to make people more comfortable about going out.”
The snowball stand and outdoor food venues at Big Play Entertainment Center in Biloxi are opening and at Mateo’s Tex Mex in Biloxi, they’ll use the patio to expand outdoor dining, said Brandon Wooldridge, one of the owners.
But it’s South Mississippi and he said they are very aware it’s going to get hot soon and are figuring out how to incorporate shade.
A challenge
Mateo’s Tex Mex & Margaritas opened just two weeks before it had to close for the coronavirus.
Rooftop Taco & Tequila Bar in Ocean Springs also was new when it had to close.
Field’s Steak & Oyster Bar Steakhouse in Bay St. Louis was just named the top new restaurant in Mississippi at a time when nobody could come in and experience it.
“It has been challenging,” said Paul, with the mall closed and few tourists. The payroll protection program through the federal government helped a bit to keep the restaurant afloat, he said, while they did takeout and delivery.
“Sales obviously went down,” he said, and even with the mall reopening Tuesday, “I’m not expecting to get the business that we were getting before the shut down,” he said, “right off hand. But he thinks the breakfast crowd will be back.
At Shaggy’s, “We maintained our entire salaried staff so we’d be ready when this time came,” Ladner said.
They didn’t do much takeout and delivery before the coronavirus — they didn’t need to when they had 4-hour waits for a table on busy weekends, he said.
But it helped carry them through the shut-down,
“Our to-go sales have been pretty robust,” he said, making up 35% of normal revenue and 60 percent at one location.
Enough food and servers?
None of the restaurant owners said they expect to have problems getting meat or other food when they reopen.
“Our providers are just excited,” said Sumrall, who will be placing a bigger order this week to stock White Pillars. He hasn’t had any problems getting food through any of this, he said, while he kept busy making savory pies and other new creations for take-out.
“Restaurants being closed affects more than just restaurants,” he said. Farmers and other suppliers have taken a hit, he said.
Nicaud said they will wait until the casinos returning by Memorial Day before reopening Fillup with Billups in downtown Biloxi, but all their other restaurants across the three Coast counties are opening this week.
The hardest thing will be to get employees to return to work when they are making an extra $600 a week from the federal government for staying home, he and the other restaurant owners said.
Those who are collecting unemployment but decline to return to their jobs face losing their benefits and their jobs.
At White Pillars the servers worked part-time and even delivered food during the shutdown, Sumrall said.
“They’re just going to be excited to get more hours and better tips,” he said.
