Heated patios & carryout: What Ann Arbor-area restaurants will do to keep people coming this winter – MLive.com

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI Warmer weather has accommodated outdoor dining thats helped Ann Arbor-area restaurants stay busy this summer and meet safety guidelines amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

That wont be the case over the next few months, though, as Michigans weather turns from sun to snow.

So, restaurants are entertaining all sorts of possibilities about how to best serve their customers this winter. And while some will offer heated seating outside, most will promote carryout.

Even during this summertime period, patio sales accounted for less than 20% of our overall sales, said Ali Ramlawi, Ann Arbor City Council member and owner of Jerusalem Garden, 314 E. Liberty St. in Ann Arbor. So, over 80% of our sales have been takeout orders. Based on what weve experienced, I think were going to remain a takeout, to-go business, unless it becomes so dire that we need to open up the inside.

It was about four months ago that the Ann Arbor City Council approved a plan for restaurants to expand their patio seating areas into the street.

People have been waiting for outdoor tables at Jerusalem Garden even as temperatures have dipped this fall, Ramlawi said. As long as the weather stays nice, Ramlawi said he wont open the inside and will continue to offer patio seating.

But, it would be hard to invest in expensive infrastructure to heat the patio, Ramlawi said. University of Michigan students account for a big percentage of business and, since students will be gone for most of December and January, investing in outdoor seating for the winter just doesnt seem advantageous, he said.

Heating the outdoors with the propane or whatever youre using, if youre going to be buying the igloos or infrastructure for enclosures, I mean these are substantial added costs of doing business when youre already losing money, Ramlawi said.

Mani Osteria, 341 E. Liberty St. in Ann Arbor, will close its patio in the coming weeks and continue to offer curbside pickup, which it has been doing since March, owner Adam Baru said. Offering outdoor seating this winter is a wait-and-see situation, he said.

We dont mind spending the money in order to get ourselves to a high-functioning place if it makes sense," Baru said. "Right now, were still just sort of saying lets just ride this for what it is and see what happens over the next month or two. Its going to be a turbulent few months.

Local Eats: Have a taste of Italy in Ann Arbor at Mani Osteria & Bar

Indoor seating at Mani Osteria is not open, Baru said, adding he doesnt plan on opening the dining room unless its absolutely necessary. Instead, the restaurant will continue to do curbside pickup and potentially add delivery to reach more people.

Baru has looked at tenting off part of the patio and adding heaters, he said, but the patio and curbside pickup areas share a mutual space. Tenting off the area would cause more problems for getting curbside orders to cars, Baru said.

If we had to pick one or the other, we would pick the curbside," he said. "Its really a far better model for us and what we do.

Some restaurants, however, are choosing to heat their patio spaces.

Bellflower, 209 Pearl St. in Ypsilanti, has five of its 10 outdoor tables under an awning, said Mark Maynard, one of three partners in the restaurant. Those tables have heaters next to them, which should get them through the next month, he said. Bellflower also has installed a new gas line and two gas heaters for the outdoor area.

We already had the awning installed before COVID hit, so we were fortunate, Maynard said. I know others werent as fortunate, but we were super lucky in that we had already planned on having an outdoor seating environment for people.

Bellflowers indoor dining room and bar are open with limited capacity for social distancing, Maynard said. And while theyre still figuring out how to do carryout for dinner, the lunch menu which features more sandwiches is all carryout, he said. Bellflower is also planning on doing more retail sales and plans to open a wine shop soon, Maynard said.

Frita Batidos, 117 W. Washington St. in Ann Arbor, is upgrading the restaurants heaters for their patio, owner Eve Aronoff said. Aronoff originally wasnt going to invest in the heaters, but wants people to be comfortable, she said.

Its always a work in progress these days, and so we just reversed course on that because we felt like it would balance out because people have commented that on those unseasonably cold days, theyre not comfortable, Aronoff said.

Local eats: Frita Batidos serves Cuban-inspired street food in Ann Arbor

Like other restaurants, Aronoff said Frita Batidos is fine-tuning its delivery and online ordering systems, and will have more space and be more efficient after moving into the old Logan restaurant site.

Sidetrack Bar and Grill, 56 E. Cross St. in Ypsilantis Depot Town, is also considering a heated patio, owner Linda French said. The restaurant turned its back parking lot into a patio, and French said that could become permanent as it will have removable sides with heaters, as well as being open air.

This winter, however, its possible Sidetrack could move to carryout-only meals.

Were just going to play it out," French said. "This will be the first week that we will probably be inside, so we will see if it even warrants even staying open for that, or do we just do carryout. Were just trying to figure out what to do to stay open. And if we cant stay open, then we will do carryout.

The restaurant is currently at 50% capacity, and French said she just wants to make sure everyone at the restaurant is safe.

Savas, 216 S. State St. in Ann Arbor, intends to have a heated tent open through the beginning of next year, owner Sava Farah said. However, she knows many people wont want to sit outside on 20-degree days, so she will push carryout, family dinners and find alternate ways to generate revenue.

One of those ways is through a large-format catering option, where people can order trays of their favorite foods to serve up to six people, Farah said. The restaurant is also considering adding a delivery system in anticipation of a rough beginning next year.

Weve got a two-fold issue that were trying to solve, which is to pay our bills and stay in business, but we also dont want to have to lay off staff, Farah said. Were just thinking if it slows down in the restaurant, perhaps some of that staff that was delivering food to the tables could be delivering food to peoples homes or offices.

Local Eats: Savas restaurant offers upscale diner cuisine in Ann Arbor

Theres a lot of uncertainty ahead for the restaurant industry, just as there was during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Farah said.

But she and other restaurant owners hope the winter will be mild. And with a little bit of faith and good luck, things will turn around, Farah said.

Were optimistic," Farah said. This is only temporary. We have a few more massive waves here and hope come spring or summer 2021, were putting this thing behind us.

READ MORE:

2 Ann Arbor restaurants identified as potential COVID-19 exposure sites

ypsiGLOW lovers can watch virtually or walk through town for light-filled festival

Washtenaw County issues mask mandate, restaurant capacity limits to replace Whitmer orders

Read the original:
Heated patios & carryout: What Ann Arbor-area restaurants will do to keep people coming this winter - MLive.com