Some restaurants open dining rooms, patios Friday, while others stick with to-go only – KXAN.com

AUSTIN (KXAN) Friday marked another step by Governor Greg Abbott to reopen Texas. After being shut down for more than a month, retailers, restaurants, libraries, golf courses and movie theaters have been given the green light to allow customers back in the door.

The day to reopen comes a day after the state reported the highest death toll in one single day with more than 50 deaths.

If restaurant owners chose to reopen their dining rooms Friday, they had to follow the states safety guidelines. Things like masks requirements for staff and patrons, disposable cutlery, to-go cups, single-use menus and single-use condiments are just some of the changes being made at restaurants.

KXAN checked in with ZTejas and Poke Austin. Management there said theyll practice social distancing and keep patrons separated. They also plan to check employees temperatures at the door.

At ZTejas, temperature checks will also apply to customers, and they plan to implement a rotating table system. That means they will not seat a party at the same table where others just dined.

Another big aspect for many restaurants is patios. Several restaurant owners are advertising their outdoor space. ZTejas has four patio areas at its 6th Street location, and Poke Austins patio wraps around the building. Some restaurant owners have announced they will only use the patio areas.

Thats where your space is, Trent Schneiter, the owner of Poke Austin said. Thats where I think people will feel the safest, so lets take advantage of that, and even better its the good weather its not a 100 degrees outside, its a cool 90 degrees.

ZTejas Chief Operating Officer Robby Nethercut agreed and said, I think (patrons) do feel more comfortable just being outdoors and feeling free and I think for sure, my personal preference would be to want to be able to sit outdoors. I think there is a little bit of safety there and it makes people feel more comfortable.

Actually I was coming in to get a taco to go. I always come here, said Gloria Chapa. Today I didnt know I could eat here. Im glad came here.

Chapa said shes been coming to Juan in a Million twice a week for decades. I was like 15-years-old, and now Im 60. My nephews, my nieces, my mom, everybody came here. Its a family tradition.

She said during the Stay Home Order, she would see Juan in a Million completely empty.

Empty and sad and depressing. Its sad what happened. Its real sad. But everythings going to get better, she told KXAN.

Owner Juan Meza said he moved the tables so theyre all more than six feet apart. He said hes glad he can re-open the dining room.

We had to lay off a lot of our employees. Not were starting to bring them back, Meza said. Hopefully when things start picking back up again, hopefully well have our whole staff back.

On the other hand, however, some restaurant owners chose to keep their dining rooms closed.

Bangers Sausage House and Beer Garden Owner Ben Siegel said, Youve a very real threat to human life on the one hand. And then you have very real threat to livelihoods on the other hand.

Bangers has been selling groceries and having people pick up their orders curbside.

If you look at the what the president and at the federal level, what their guidelines were for states reopening, which seemed rational logical, I dont think weve actually met any of those guidelines, Siegel said. The only difference between right now and a month and a half ago when we shut down is theres more people with COVID-19 right now. Thats really the only difference.

Siegel said he had to think about, What is the cost of not only starting back up but then shutting it down but then starting it back up again?

He also explained, reopening the dining room isnt as simple as turning on a light switch. You have to think about staffing and inventory.

The Brewtorium owners also said, you need more than four days to go from a to-go only model to having dining rooms open at 25 percent capacity.

We just felt like it wasnt time yet with the number of COVID cases continuing to increase in Travis County, said Co-Owner Whitney Roberts. We just felt like it wasnt thesafe time to do it.

Chris Rauschuber said, Even if we felt that the overall climate was suitable, the measures we had to put in place, we need more time.

Roberts added, Adding all the additional safety measures, moving our tables around, trying to police that, trying police the number of people coming in, it just doesnt make a lot of sense at this point. And frankly I dont think people would coming in at this point.

Like Siegel, Rauschuber also questioned the costs of reopening now and the potential of having to shut down again if there were to be a second surge in cases.

Itd be very disruptive to our staff if we were to bring them off of furlough, off of unemployment and then have to put them back on furlough, were not really sure how that would work, he said.

The restaurant owners said they will reopen in the future, but for now, theyd rather play it safe.

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Some restaurants open dining rooms, patios Friday, while others stick with to-go only - KXAN.com