Reopening Guidelines Present Unique Challenges For Colorado Restaurants

DENVER (CBS4) – While May 27 will mark a major milestone for restaurants across Colorado, don't expect every establishment to be open. Some restaurant owners say they aren't ready, and others aren't sure they can make a profit with the new guidelines.

Come Wednesday, not much will change for the TAG Restaurant Group. TAG Burger Bar in Congress Park will continue offering take out and delivery, and TAG Restaurant in Larimer Square will remain closed.

"We're going to take a few weeks to get this baby back up and running because we've been closed for the past nine to 10 weeks at this restaurant," said owner, Troy Guard.

The way Guard sees it, there's too much at stake to rush reopening. On Monday, he shared with CBS4 some of the many tasks he'll need to accomplish before even considering opening the doors.

"It takes time to reopen a restaurant," he said. "We have to deep clean it. We have to call all our staff and make sure they still want to come back, some have gotten other jobs, and if they haven't we have to train them."

The next issue will be managing the new state guidelines, which include face covering requirements for employees, deep cleaning, and limiting parties to eight people or fewer, among other things.

Guard tells CBS4 every restaurant will have its own, unique challenges adhering to the guidelines. At TAG Restaurant, social distancing will be a challenge, and at Guard & Grace, the 50% limit on capacity, not to exceed 50 guests, means 150 empty seats.

"That's 25% of my business," he said. "I can't make money on 25."

Guard isn't alone. While a recent survey by the Colorado Restaurant Association found 80% of dining rooms will reopen if only allowed 50% capacity, 9% would only survive one month and 47% would consider closing in three months.

"We're hearing restaurants may be able to open into parking lots, be able to expand into public sidewalks, expand into streets," said Sonia Riggs, President and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association. "Any additional capacity is going to be really crucial for this industry to be able to stay open in a longer period."

"Could you survive off the next three months, six months off 50% of your paycheck, paying the same rent?" Guard asked.

For the TAG Restaurant Group, the goal is a safe and sustainable plan, no matter how long it takes to develop.

"We're just going take it day by day, week by week like we have been, but we will not open unless we know we can make it three or six months after that," said Guard. "It wouldn't make sense to open and close again."

The Colorado Restaurant Association's CEO tells CBS4 she's thankful the state and governor's office listened to restaurants' recommendations and made changes to the originally proposed guidelines.

"We're going to be working with the governor's office to make more changes in the coming weeks, and we hope that they'll be open to that," said Riggs. "In a conversation I had with the governor yesterday, he said that they would be open to tweaks to this."

For now, the group is asking people to be patient with their favorite restaurants as they navigate the new normal.

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