Food is on the tables, but the number of tables is dwindling.

As area restaurants and bars continue to be under siege from a barrage of state administrative restrictions, owners and managers have been forced to reinvent their service industry to stay open and to remain solvent.

Feeling for a pulse

President and CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, Chris Barrett has been monitoring the life support for area food service businesses.

“Our restaurants have had many challenges since March and none greater than the latest shocking announcement by the administration,” said Barrett, referring to Gov. Tom Wolf’s most recent mandate that all restaurants must reduce their indoor seating from 50% to 25% of capacity and require that meals be eaten during any alcohol consumption.

“There was no warning this news was coming,” said Barrett, “and the mandate is statewide and not specific to only high COVID counties. Some restaurants had placed food orders for 50% capacity. Now with too many perishables, they have donated the excess to local food banks.”

When the pandemic peaked and the counties were in the red phase, restaurant owners needed to create new strategies to save their businesses. Many closed and then reopened in the yellow phase with takeout service only as indoor dining was forbidden. Once counties moved to the green phase, Wolf ordered indoor dining to be reduced to a 50% capacity.

Now his latest order reads, “Occupancy is limited to 25% of stated fire-code maximum occupancy for indoor dining, or 25 persons for a discrete indoor event or gathering in a restaurant. The maximum occupancy limit includes staff.”

The new mandate also states that patrons must order meals to be able to drink alcoholic beverages. Once they have finished eating, they cannot order any drinks.

“If you do the math, a place that can sit 100 patrons now sits 25,” said Barrett. “Barley’s Creek went to all outside seating. Angel’s Café in Stroudsburg can only serve three tables, making their takeout service their only viable option.”

Efforts to make it work

Area dining establishments had to figure new and creative ways to serve their customers while complying with the state mandates.

Barrett said Desaki in Swiftwater is showing movies in the parking lot to attract diners.

Assistant General Manager Brydie Jacques at Boulder View Tavern in Lake Harmony had begun a community grocery pickup service during the red and yellow phases.

“When people weren’t venturing out, we began this service to the local community. This also helped our vendors who were struggling to meet their costs.”

Boulder View has the advantage of a large outdoor lake view dining area where Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health guidelines of wearing masks and social distancing is supervised. Inside, the 25% mandate has reduced service from a capacity of about 125 patrons down to only 30.

“We’re trying to meet out budget,” said Jacques. “We had to end our popular Sunday brunch buffet which also set us back.”

Louis Pantages, who owns Louie’s Prime, Shenanigans, and Nick’s Lake House in Lake Harmony, said many of his patrons are tourists due to the vacation area of his restaurants.

“Short-term renters often do not want to cook their own meals so we have had quite a challenge to meet the demand now that people want to venture out after being in their houses for so long,” he explained.

Pantages and his staff devised creative ways to make their takeout orders more appealing. Mother’s Day and barbecue cookout boxes were two of their marketing ideas.

Like many other owners, the mandates have forced Pantages to reduce his days and hours of operation to offset the cost of his overhead. To help pay for payroll and utilities, he has received COVID-19 small-business assistance from the state.

Roadies Restaurant and Bar General Manager Mike Tirko has the advantage of two levels of large outside seating areas.

“Inside we can have 61 people and that includes staff,” he said. Upstairs outside we can social distance 104 and downstairs we can put 130 people.”

Tirko pointed out that with entertainment downstairs on the weekends, they can come close to capacity.

“We were completely closed from the onset in March until the June green phase,” said Tirko. “So we have a lot to make up.”

Marlyn Kissner of the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corp., reminded people to support local restaurants.

“They are friends, family and colleagues willing to work morning, noon and night, holidays and weekends to serve our community with unique and tasty meals. Our restaurant owners, chefs, waiters, waitresses, hostesses, bartenders, dishwashers … are ALL in need of support and advocacy and are losing revenue and income by the hour.”

The Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association spoke out to legislators two weeks ago.

“We stand alongside of the PRLA because we’ve seen firsthand that our local restaurants are following guidelines and safety measures to make the dining experience for patrons welcoming, safe and secure,” Kissner said.

Now and then

“Our restaurant owners have been incredibly inventive and resourceful,” said Barrett, “and many are doing so just to break even.”

“Another huge challenge is to maintain staff,” said Jacques. “We have the smallest summer staff ever and we’re losing a few more in early August when they go to college.”

“When we went to the green phase in June, we couldn’t get enough staff,” said Pantages. “With collecting unemployment during the pandemic, why would they go to work?”

While facing staff shortages, Jacques and Pantages have much more on their plates than serving food. Patrons have refused to wear masks when not eating and some have been confrontational and were asked to leave.

“Then there are those who act like they’re in the mask police force, reporting to us whenever they spot customers not wearing them,” said Jacques.

“We’re dealing with people who care too much and people who care too little,” said Jacques, “ but that’s everywhere you go now.”

At Roadies, security personnel enforce mask wearing and distancing during entertainment and remind patrons there is no dancing allowed.

Wolf’s “new normal” for the food service industry has raised the ire of many proprietors who according to Barrett, would like to have a say in what they have called the governor’s unfair decisions.

Advocates from the PA Restaurant and Lodging Association had met with the administration and adamantly stated that “25% does not work,” and has caused massive shutdowns of eateries in other states.

“While the bars and restaurants are being targeted for the spike in the number of COVID cases, I can drive down the street from my places and see 50 people jammed together floating on a raft in the lake,” said Jacques. “and no one is wearing a mask.”

“We understand the need to mitigate,” said Barrett, “but the 25% order is statewide when some of the counties don’t even have health departments. These counties and their restaurants do not have a coronavirus problem.”

“Our next worry is what are we going to do when the weather turns cold and we have to shut down outdoor dining?” said Jacques.

Tirko said he and ownership have been brainstorming a few ideas for when the temperatures drop.

“We are considering large tents to protect customers from the elements.” He stated that heated tents that can be enclosed are very costly and once the sides are zipped closed, that would be considered as indoor dining.

Pantages has the same concern if the 25% order is still in place. “We have great support from our regular customers,” he said, “but when the cold weather comes, I just don’t know how we can keep it going.”