With menus on the walls, Whitehorse restaurants adapt during COVID-19 pandemic
As more restaurants in Whitehorse reopen their dining rooms, something allowed since late May, customers are in for some changes to the dining experience.
"Since we can't pass menus back and forth, and we can't wash our menus, we've posted them on the wall," Lee Willett, owner of Burnt Toast Café, said on Wednesday.
She said the plan is to reopen the restaurant for dine-in service starting Saturday.
When customers walk in, they'll be stopped by an employee at the front desk, which will have hand sanitizer atop of it, Willett said.
"We're trying to take reservations, which we've never done," she said.
The restaurant will reduce capacity by 50 per cent, the bar area is closed, and tables are a couple of metres apart.
A big challenge for staff will be changing their mindsets regarding how they serve customers, Willett said.
"Oftentimes, you'll go back and forth many times, refill coffee, that kind of thing, and that's over. I mean, if they want another coffee, we have to take the cup, we have to get a new cup, give it to them," she said.
Some of the same changes are in effect at The Chocolate Claim.
The café reopened on Tuesday, now with physical distancing markers placed inside and outside. Arrows to direct the flow of customer traffic are inside on the ground.
A Plexiglas barrier separates customers and employees at the front desk, where the cash register is located, and more disposable products are being used.
Owner Glenys Baltimore said the additions cost around $1,000, "and that's mostly the Plexiglas. That stuff's really expensive."
One of the biggest challenges so far into post-reopening has to do with employees wearing masks, she said.
"People are telling me it's difficult to hear them with the barrier and the mask on," Baltimore said. "So the communication's been a little difficult."
It will be up to employees if they want to keep them on, she added.
Reopening dine-in service amid the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges, but Willett said she also sees some positivity to come out of this time.
"Maybe I'm, you know, in the minority, but I actually am enjoying having a summer without being overrun with tourists," she said.
"I think it's kind of fun. You know, I don't mind the hit on the income, really."
