Local restaurants ‘wash, wash, wash’ to reassure customers it’s still safe to eat out
When Lisa Tanner Harvey went out to eat at O’Charley’s on Richmond Road recently, she watched a couple ask to have a booth cleaned before they would sit down and order.
“It took them 20+ minutes to do it to their satisfaction,” Harvey said online. The host washed the booth with hot soapy water with clean new towels, then sprayed it down with disinfectant and wiped it again. “It was unreal.”
In the age of coronavirus, is there new normal for dining out?
According to many on the LexGo Eat Food & Dining News Facebook group, things are shifting.
Questions posted there about how people feel about eating out drew dozens of responses.
Diners response to COVID-19
Some say they are eating out less or are halting altogether, at least until it becomes clear how COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has sickened and killed people in China, Italy and the U.S., will impact Kentucky. Several cited concerns for the health of potentially fragile family members.
“We have a kiddo whose immune system is low so we are skipping eating out for a while,” said Sara Tripp of Lexington. “Not worried about food but interactions with other people at close quarters.”
The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department has made no recommendations on eating out, according to spokesman Kevin Hall.
“It’s up to the discretion of each person,” he said. “We recommend that people in high-risk groups (people over the age of 60 or anyone with chronic health conditions like kidney, heart or lung disease, cancer or diabetes avoid large crowds.”
“I stopped eating out during the first wave of the hepatitis A diagnosis until I got immunized,” said Alicia Sneed of Lexington. “I am personally less worried about contracting COVID-19 than I am concerned about being a carrier and transmitting it to my parents who are 70 and over. We live in a state filled with folks who are sicker than other states and due to smoking and the mining industry have compromised respiratory systems. I have considered curtailing eating out, but I am more than likely to try to limit my interactions with folks I feel are compromised, like going to visit my parents.”
But others said they plan to eat out in support of the restaurant industry, which could be hit hard if major gatherings or events are canceled, or if businesses shut down due to widespread illness.
“I will continue to eat out and support the restaurants and business, and their employees, until my trusted health officials tell me not to,” said Alan Marcus Stein, vice president at LM Communications Broadcast Group, on LexGo Eat’s Facebook dining group.
Are local restaurants prepared for coronavirus?
Restaurant owners say they have been preparing for this and have stepped up their own precautions.
Lisa Cox, owner of Sidebar Grill on North Limestone said in response to a similar question posted in a Facebook group for food service industry professionals that restaurants and service works “already have it drilled into their heads to wash, wash, wash and disinfect even more!” She said her restaurant also has been wiping down common surfaces regularly with Lysol wipes in addition to their normal sanitizing regimen.
“Eating out will continue to be safe if we all continue to follow these guidelines. Our mantra nowadays is ‘keep calm and wash your hands!’” Cox said online. “I think it’s too soon to tell if the virus will affect business. For us it depends on if they start closing schools or government offices.”
Chef Ouita Michel, who was recently named a semifinalist for a James Beard award for her string of restaurants including Zim’s Cafe in downtown Lexington, said business has been normal so far.
“As of Sunday, our sales had not dropped, so we will see what happens this week,” Michel said in a statement. “We continue, as always, to work closely with the health department to maintain the highest standard of sanitation.”
The restaurants are taking hygiene and sanitizing seriously, for the sake of customers and for employees, even doing away with common use items that might be hard to clean between users. Goodbye, salt and pepper shakers.
“Our company sanitation expert Rachel Keller has visited and continues to monitor each of our restaurants, emphasizing hand-washing technique and implementing measures such as individual-use salt and pepper and sugar packets,” Michel said. “We are sanitizing every chair, table, checkout screen, door handles and other surfaces throughout the day. All our staff members are watching out for the health and safety of our guests as well as their own well-being.”
Kyle Klatka, chef at Oscar Diggs, also on North Limestone, said that they are prepared to serve people with paper plates and plastic utensils if that will make customers feel more safe.
St. Patrick’s Day will test local restaurants
“We’re ready,” he said, adding last week was a strong one and the weekend was busy. But the big test is coming up: St. Patrick’s Day.
The city’s annual festival and parade are Saturday in advance of the March 17 holiday.
That’s a high point for many downtown Lexington bars and restaurants, Klatka said. And even a small dip will hurt their margins, he said.
Klatka asked his fellow restaurant and bar owners in his own post on Facebook how they thought the coming weeks would go.
Some were worried, others blase.
“True barometer will be St. Pat’s. If people don’t come out for that you’re in real trouble,” one commented.
Coronavirus hysteria?
But Jeff Newman, co-owner of Blue Door Smokehouse, said even drawing a connection between eating out and getting sick could fuel hysteria.
“This is bad news,” Newman said in a post. “There are no known links between foodservice and higher rates of coronavirus. Journalism that suggests even a possibility will cause more harm than good.”
But Mae Suramek, who owns Noodle Nirvana in Berea, disagreed. “If anything, as a restaurant owner, I’d welcome a story about how public panic could critically hurt small businesses and the livelihood of our staff,” she said online.
“I’d love for our communities to hear how much we value their continued business and them not succumbing to panic ... and potentially causing irreparable harm to locally owned independent restaurants and the well-being of our employees,” she wrote. “I have 13 staff and give away $40,000 to a local nonprofit annually. If people stopped eating out, I shudder to think about how my folks would survive and how our nonprofit partners would be impacted.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 11:03 AM.
