Georgia Restaurants Opened Their Doors Today — Here’s How It Went

TOPLINE

Spread out tables, limited seating, and lots of hand sanitizer and masks; restaurants across Georgia were allowed to reopen and offer dine-in service on Monday after Gov. Brian Kemp controversially eased the state’s social distancing restrictions. 

KEY FACTS

Crucial quote

The owner of a restaurant in Georgia that took the controversial step to reopen told the Atlanta Journal Constitution he was doing so because if not now, when?

“This is not about us trying to maximize our revenue,” Dennis McKinley, owner of the Original Hot Dog Factory in Atlanta, Georgia to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “We know that we have got to, at some point, get back to our everyday lives.”

Surprising fact

Still, McKinley added that he was still figuring out how to reduce contact between customers and employees, a sign of the go-at-it alone approach some business owners will have to take despite the guidelines issued by the state government. 

 “We’re going to have to reinvent the way we serve people,” McKinley said. “A new term might be ‘contactless server’ as we are engaging in a new restaurant world that begins in Atlanta (this) week.”

What we don’t know

The protocols restaurants will need to develop to keep restaurant-goers safe. There are many questions left unanswered, such as what to do with menus when a customer is done using them, or how to keep chefs safe in the tight confines of a kitchen, as the New York Times
NYT
reports. 

“This is a dress rehearsal for the entire country,” said Bo Peabody, a member of the Georgia Restaurant Association to WSB-TV, a local Atlanta T.V station. “If this goes well, I think most restaurants in Atlanta will be open by the middle of May. If it doesn’t, then I think the whole country will be set back by a month or two. That’s the risk.”

Chief critic

“I, as a chef and restaurateur, refuse to have the people I employ and work with used as sacrificial lambs for an economic uptick that is far from guaranteed anyway,” writes Hugh Acheson, chef and owner of several restaurants in Georgia, in the Washington Post.

Key background

Governors face a tough call in deciding when to reopen their state’s economy. On the one hand, the stay-at-home orders have crippled the economy. On the other, health officials maintain that social distancing restrictions have saved lives and are necessary for slowing the spread of a virus. 

Officials advise that any steps taken to reopen the economy must be done slowly and be accompanied by widespread testing to trace and control outbreaks. Kemp is not alone in announcing plans to reopen. Alaska, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina have all partially reopened. 

Further reading

Restaurants not ready to reopen dining rooms despite Kemp’s go-ahead (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

With Georgia Diners Set To Reopen, Waffle House Braces For A Slow Recovery (Forbes)

Why Trump Switched Course And Attacked Governor Kemp For Reopening (Forbes)

Republican Governors Of Three States Set To Reopen Let Businesses Call The Shots About How To Open Safely (Forbes)

Americans Overwhelmingly Support Stay-At-Home Restrictions, New Poll Finds (Forbes)