Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • August 10, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com T he coronavirus pan- demic has forced all restaurants to change the way they do busi- ness, requiring them to do whatever it takes to survive. For example, Max Downtown is putting on farm dinners in Simsbury, while chefs at Millwrights are cook- ing out of a food truck while servers bring dishes to outdoor tables. But everywhere across Connecti- cut's restaurant industry, a bitter winter looms in the not-too-distant future, raising fears that an already battered sector is going to face a further shake-out once it's too cold to host guests outdoors, where many diners prefer to sit to lessen the potential spread of the virus. "The reckoning is going to happen when it gets cold outside," said chef Tyler Anderson, co-owner of Tanda Hospitality, which owns about a half- dozen Connecticut restaurants, includ- ing Millwrights in Simsbury. "I think you're going to see restaurants as a whole have a very disastrous winter." Following a complete shutdown of the dine-in restaurant industry when COVID-19 began infecting residents and spreading nationwide, Connecticut eateries began a slow reopening pro- cess about 12 weeks ago. Constitution State restaurants may now offer outdoor dining, or indoor dining at 50% capacity. In recent months, restau- rants have been pumping up their takeout opera- tions, spending money to set up and break down outdoor tables and chairs each day, and figuring out new ways to offer customers an enjoyable dining experience, while still following health- and-safety guidelines, said Scott Dolch, executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association (CRA). Dolch, Anderson and others in Con- necticut's restaurant industry are in the thick of making things work in a near-impossible situation, even experi- menting with innovations that could outlive the pandemic. But with a COVID-19 vaccine likely not coming until sometime in 2021, and the threat of the disease lasting at least until then, eventually it will be too cold to eat outside, dealing anoth- er devastating blow to a beleaguered industry. And nobody has a solution. "It scares me … how many more [res- taurants] might not make it, and how hard this could be for our industry" Dolch said. "I lose sleep every night." Sympathetic ear Dolch's days usually begin with a conference call with CRA members, and the rest of his time is divided between working with the state Department of Economic and Commu- nity Development (DECD) on regula- tions, advising lawmakers on the state and national level on which policies could best help Connecti- cut's restaurant industry and serving as a sympathetic ear for local restaurateurs barely hanging on. "Sometimes it's just a venting ses- sion," Dolch said of conversations with restaurant owners. "Sometimes it's an owner calling me who's an emotional wreck and can't talk to their wife, or can't talk to their friends." Connecticut restaurants have largely cooperated with state-im- posed health-and-safety measures that require increased sanitization, and limit the number of custom- ers they can serve, Dolch said. That might be partly because COVID-19 hit Connecticut — along with other Northeast states — hard in April, leading business owners to take the threat more seriously. It also helps that Dolch says he's found a good partner in DECD Com- missioner David Lehman. The two speak on a regular basis, said Dolch, who provides Lehman an on-the- ground picture of the issues restau- rant owners are running into, and how they could be solved. Dolch has also been pushing to expand the number of seats restaurants can fill indoors. In addition to the open door at DECD, Dolch periodically meets with U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal to advise them on what Connecticut restaurants need from the federal government, and is always checking in with his National Restaurant Association counterparts in other states to further develop best practices for business during the pandemic. The industry, for example, was very active in lobbying for changes to the federal forgivable loan Pay- check Protection Program, to make it more useful to restaurants. Since Gov. Ned Lamont first man- dated in mid-March that eateries in the state close down all but takeout and delivery service, the state has rolled back some restrictions. Con- necticut now allows restaurants to host socially distanced outdoor dining and indoor dining at 50% capacity. That's led to outside-the-box thinking. Millwrights, for example, spent about $25,000 buying tables, chairs and other supplies necessary to offer outdoor dining, Anderson said. The restaurant also bought a food truck that serves as a kitchen for outdoor dining, since it's a long walk for serv- ers and food runners from the indoor kitchen to outdoor tables. Addition- ally, Anderson is using the truck as a new concept for Tanda's catering ser- vice, which has lost about $1 million in revenue since the pandemic began. "We've created a catering com- pany that can basically do whatever, wherever, however," Anderson said of the small-scale catering venture, which promotes flexibility in venue and cuisine as a key selling point. "If you want to have a wedding on top of Mount Washington, we can do it." Hartford's Max Downtown, the flagship eatery of Max Restaurant Group, hasn't opened its doors since restaurants shuttered dine-in opera- tions in the spring, and will remain closed until after Labor Day, said Steve Abrams, a partner in the res- taurant group. That's not to say Max Downtown has lost all its business. On Fridays and some Saturdays, people seeking plates off Max Down- town's menu can attend "farm din- ners" at Rosedale Farms & Vineyards in Simsbury, Abrams said. Addition- Connecticut restaurants at a glance (pre-COVID-19) Revenue: $8.2 billion Establishments: 8,298 Employees: 160,100 Source: Connecticut Restaurant Association 2018 survey Bitter Reality Winter could represent 'mass extinction event' for CT restaurant industry Connecticut Restaurant Association Executive Director Scott Dolch holds a brainstorming session with members during a pre-pandemic meeting. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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