SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington Hospitality Association has been pushing for the state to allow restaurants to open up to 50% capacity for months now, but this past week the movement picked up some traction. Local mayors, senators, commissioners, and officials have signed their support for allowing restaurants to serve at a 50% capacity for indoor dining.
Although this is not official legislation, restaurant owners hope that names like Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Spokane mayor Nadine Woodward will help get the attention of lawmakers in Olympia.
Among the local restaurant owners heading this movement is Chris Siemens, owner of the Mustard Seed and Noodle Express in Spokane.
“It’s very positive to see the mayors and commissioners stepping forward and recognizing the plight we’ve been under and understanding that we don’t take the pandemic lightly. We’re not trying to put ourselves, our employees, or the community at risk. They’re standing with us knowing we can do this the right way” said Siemens in an interview with KHQ on Sunday.
Siemen’s also added that he believes restaurants actually provide a safer environment for people to gather given the effective safety guidelines that are in place.
“What we are really hoping to get the local public and hopefully our governor to hear is that as restaurants, we’ve been in this business for a long time. We’ve been doing food safety, public safety– we’re educated in it, we’re tested in it on a regular basis by the local health jurisdictions, and we know we can do it well.”
Washington Hospitality CEO Anthony Anton also agreed, saying that most of the cases are coming from private gatherings and aren’t actually related to restaurants. They say that allowing restaurants to re-open to 50% capacity will give people a place to gather where safety precautions are enforced.
But even as restaurants push to get more indoor dining, they are also trying to navigate the current guidelines that are already in place.
The Italian Kitchen in downtown Spokane is taking advantage of the new open-air guidelines, allowing them to serve indoor dining at 25%. They plan to open on Monday, but say it took them a few days to get their restaurant prepared for the new guidelines.
“We’ve always tried to take the approach of we’re always going to try to do things exactly the way we’re supposed to. So, it took a few days for us to figure out how we’re going to do this correctly, but now we are completely dialed in as it relates to getting people inside, having proper airflow, trying to keep the place warm, and keeping our staff and our guests safe” said co-owner Bryce Kerr.
Kerr also said that for businesses like garage bars and open seated cafe’s, the open-air guidelines are easier to adhere to. But because the Italian Kitchen is a dine-in restaurant, it wasn’t an easy task to meet the guidelines at first. After days of preparations, Kerr says they are excited to be open for business on Monday.
Although the 25% is a step in the right direction for the Italian Kitchen, Kerr also agrees that moving up to 50% capacity is necessary moving forward.
“Having the ability to do 25% is good– it’s a step in the right direction– but it’s nowhere near sustainable. 50% really allows us to be able to operate and almost break even whereas 25% we’re still losing money.”
The Italian Kitchen is still offering takeout, but is now accepting reservations up to the 25% capacity.
