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Restaurants take advantage of outdoor space as indoor dining regulations change with coronavirus surges

Municipalities across the country have closed off streets to car traffic for the first time ever to allow for more socially distanced outdoor dining

Holly Petre, Assistant Digital Editor

July 10, 2020

8 Slides
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Gitano

Nothing says summertime like outdoor dining. Sidewalk tables have always been major business for restaurants, but with many states still in reopening phases that require indoor dining to be closed down, what will outdoor dining look like during summer 2020?

New York, the original center of the coronavirus crisis when it first came to the U.S., has been reopening extremely slowly. Indoor dining is not even in the next phase of reopening.

In California, indoor dining reopened only to be shut down and rolled back as rising numbers of coronavirus cases in the state made the governor take action.

Across the country, restaurateurs are getting creative with their outdoor dining areas. From Old Vine and Bar in California to Gitano Garden of Love in NYC, restaurants are using this opportunity for extra space to bring in new diners yearning for out-of-the-house dining.

Some restaurants, such as Curio in San Francisco, have turned increased outdoor space into entertainment venues showcasing silent movies, while other groups of restaurants in the Bronx have joined together to create an al-fresco outdoor dining plan that’s being billed as a “European-style outdoor dining experience” – socially distanced of course.

Click through to see some of the inventive ways operators have taken advantage of this new business to make money during the busiest months.

Contact Holly at [email protected]

About the Author

Holly Petre

Assistant Digital Editor

Holly Petre is a digital editor for Nation’s Restaurant News as well as the host of NRN’s podcast, Extra Serving, and producer for Informa Restaurant and Food Group’s other three podcasts, One On One by Food Management, Off the Shelf with SN and In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn. Holly holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture, fibers and Material Studies and Ceramics from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A native New Yorker, Holly enjoys her place on staff as the resident pop-culture expert and millennial with a sassy attitude and great sense of style.

Holly Petre’s work on Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality often covers marketing and trends, either aimed-at or examined-through the millennial mindset. Holly is responsible for introducing TikTok and Twitch to NRN and RH readers as well as explaining terms like “Karen” to staff and readers alike. She also spends her time on staff trying not to make every headline a pun.

Holly Petre hasn’t spoken at any events or on panels, but she is readily available with a killer shoe wardrobe and several witty quips.

 

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