Governor Roy Cooper announced restaurants can reopen in limited capacity on Friday, with several requirements and recommendations for additional safety. However, several restaurant owners have decided not to open yet, citing issues securing PPE and sanitizers, the need for staff training, and uncertainty around whether opening makes sense financially. We spoke to five owners of various sized restaurant groups about their plans. —Kristen Wile

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PIERRE BADER
Owner of Aria Tuscan Grill and Cicchetti

When the restaurants will reopen: Likely the first week of June
Why: With such little business coming into Uptown currently, Bader isn’t in a rush to open his doors again. It will also take time to retrain staff with new safety standards and get all of the equipment needed, as well as trimming down both concepts’ large menus. With such a big restaurant, he will need to find somewhere to store a lot of tables, and plans on hiring a restroom attendant to sanitize after each guest uses the bathroom. Menus will be disposable, there will be no salt and pepper on the table, and servers won’t be replacing your silverware with each course.
In his words: “We have to take in a certain amount of money to support our payroll and our expenses. And if that revenue is just not coming and then you still have the same expense, you could bleed money like there’s no tomorrow. And that’s the dangerous part about this. And a lot of people could get hurt more by being careless on that note, to open.”

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PAUL VERICA
Chef/owner of The Stanley and upcoming restaurant Orto

When the restaurant will reopen: Likely the middle of next week
Why: Verica says he and his management team have to do a lot of physical work to rearrange the space, but also need to consider how such a high-touch restaurant can best serve guests right now. They’ll be looking at whether they want to temporarily simplify the menu, and will continue doing takeout, grocery boxes, butcher shop offerings, and weekend pop-ups.
In his words: “I think it’s going to be a little bit of a shit show in general, and I don’t want to rush to do it. I’d rather just make sure that we take our time and that we do it right and that we have the space right, that we’re meeting all the requirements and the guidelines. And reading over the guidelines this morning, they’re a little contradictory in a couple of different ways.”

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JON DRESSLER
Owner of Rare Roots Hospitality (Dressler’s, Dogwood Southern Table, Fin & Fino, The Porter’s House)

When the restaurants will reopen: Friday, May 22 at 5 p.m.
Why: Dressler says he and his staff have been planning for reopening, and he’s already walked through the dining rooms to ensure tables are six feet apart. The restaurant will be using disposable menus and have instituted touchless payment, and will be wiping down surfaces frequently. To start, the concepts will be open for dinner only.
In his words: “Restaurant people were a little bit more in tune with sanitation procedures,” he says. “We spend all day long washing our hands.”

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WILLIAM DISSEN
Owner of Haymaker Restaurant and Asheville’s The Market Place

When the restaurant will reopen: Beginning of June
Why: Dissen says he ordered PPE and hand sanitizing stations a month ago, and they haven’t arrived yet. He also wants to make sure his staff feels comfortable with the steps the restaurant puts into place, noting that he wore a mask all day as a test run and called the experience “suffocating.” Instead of rushing to reopen, Dissen — one of the first people to close at the start of the pandemic — wants a detailed plan in place.
In his words: “Frankly, we’re just not ready yet. You know, I’m still trying to get all the PPE needs we need for a business, trying to get sanitizing stations set up, trying to get all my sanitizing and public health plans in place. It’s a pretty daunting task to get all this set up. We’re not going to go into this like many folks did in Ohio and Wisconsin. We want to make sure that we’re taking care of the public health needs of our staff and the public health needs of our guests to make sure everybody’s safe.”

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WILL BIGHAM
Co-owner of Stomp, Chomp, and Roll (The Pizza Peel, Flying Biscuit Café, and Improper Pig)

When the restaurants will reopen: On a rolling basis, likely starting in Fort Mill 
Why: Thanks to receiving PPP funds, Bigham was able to bring staff back on the week of May 11. Since then, they’ve been undergoing training and putting new plans into place. With locations in South Carolina, Bigham had the ability to open some restaurants last week, but chose not to. He is approaching reopening as if each location is a new restaurant, and not opening the doors until the staff is confident they’re ready to do so. Servers will be split into specific jobs, with some acting as food runners and others solely taking orders, and menus will displayed on your phone via QR code.
In his words: “Before we open the doors, I want to make sure that all our staff are comfortable with the process that we have in place and that they have a say in it as well before we open the doors. What I don’t want is to be like, ‘Oh, yeah, we can open the doors now, let’s go!’ and then not have our customers feel comfortable in it or our staff feel comfortable in it.”

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