Greater Lehigh Valley restaurants ready to dive in to dine-in service

It’s June 26, the day that the Greater Lehigh Valley goes green in the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan.

And, it’s the day area restaurants can begin offering indoor dining for the first time since mid-March.

Because of the dramatic loss in revenue some restaurants, like the Ritz Barbeque, a longtime Allentown favorite, were forced to close. But for those that survived, there’s hope that going green will help them get back into the black even if they have to operate at 50% capacity.

John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, said this day has been much anticipated.

“Six weeks ago when I was talking to restaurant owners it was a pretty discouraging time,” he said. “The mood is now significantly shifted.”

For the past few months many restaurants got by on their takeout or delivery business. During the shutdown, Chris Webb, vice president of Design and Development for PJW Restaurant Group, said their takeout increased dramatically over what they would traditionally see, which was mostly just an occasional order or two. Still, with no inside seating, that only recouped around 15% of the restaurants’ normal revenue. Most of the staff had to be laid off.

For Biaggio’s, a pizzeria and Family restaurant in South Whitehall Township, takeout was always a large part of their business so owner Joe Ruffino was able to keep staff working, and working hard. But the dining room at Biaggio’s was usually full most days, so it was still a large loss.

The restaurants are happy for the extra revenue indoor seating will allow. Web has already seen how things worked at PJ’s Lehighton location, which went green a few weeks ago. The open indoor tables were quickly filled when it reopened. He also found that demand for takeout didn’t drop off. The restaurant now had two sources of income. Web expects the same when the chain opens its Allentown, Bethlehem and Walbert’s locations in the Lehigh Valley today.

Longstreet said that is a key to restaurants regaining lost revenue – capitalizing on the new sources of revenue that were created by the pandemic. A restaurant owner in Erie who has been open for a few weeks already, told him they were doing the same in sales as this time last year when they were at 100% capacity because of the additional takeout revenue.

“That’s good news,” Longstreet said. “This will help them get over the hump of this devastating loss of revenue.”

Webb said most of the municipalities where PJ’s has restaurants have been extremely helpful with zoning changes and allowing things such as outdoor dining – some cities have even shut down streets to accommodate tables.

“The municipalities have been great. Some made changes without us even having to ask for help,” he said.

He hopes those municipalities will let some of those special exceptions continue so that the restaurants have additional seating outside to make up for the loss of seating indoors. “We hope we would be able to keep those tables open through Halloween.”

Longstreet said that limited seating will be a challenge and restaurants will have to be creative on how they rearrange their operations to accommodate social distancing.

Fifty percent capacity is based on fire codes and it might be difficult for many restaurants to actually get a whole 50% and still abide by social distancing regulations, he said. Ruffino, for example, thinks he will be able to accommodate seating for 24, much less than half of his normal 72.

Longstreet said other restaurants have tried things like adding tables to waiting areas, which can’t be used as is because congregating isn’t allowed.

“Tables can be placed there and add seating,” he said.

Ruffino has no such area, but said he will continue to use the small amount of tables he has on the sidewalk outside his restaurant. But his greatest concern, with his small space, is helping customers understand the need for social distancing and mask wearing.

It’s a challenge they are addressing at PJ’s as well. They’ll have masks for those who forget theirs and will enforce mask wearing rules.

Ruffino said it’s important to be strict with the rule, but to do it kindly, and he’s worked with his staff on “controlling the situation” if there is a customer who enters the restaurant without a mask.

“You have to have courteous control,” he said. “People who have been working through this whole scenario act differently than people who have been at home all this time. They might not think about it as much.”

He said he’s told his staff if they expect a good response they’re more likely to get it and he reminds everyone that they should just concentrate on how happy they are to be dining out again.