BERKLEY, Mich. – Many Michigan restaurants found different ways to remain afloat amid a state COVID shutdown prohibiting indoor dining.
But restaurants will now be able to reopen indoor dining Feb. 1 with restrictions, such as operating at 25% capacity and a 10 p.m. curfew.
Kathering Kutscher redesigned the street outside her Berkley Common restaurant for unique heated seating. And with indoor dining reopening, she said she will keep it along with curbside carryout.
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“It’s so hard to plan. You talk to most restaurant owners right now and the first thing they say is they’re exhausted,” Kutscher said.
Like other restaurants across the state, Berkley Common is taking the weekend to get the dining room cleaned and ready, and re-train staff on guidelines.
“If every restaurateur follows the guidelines, ensures that their employees, as well as their customers, are following those guidelines, I think that we’re good to go,” said Susan Morton, owner of Lily’s Seafood Brewery & Grill.
Kutscher thinks the 25% capacity is a good place to start back up.
“Getting up every morning and trying to figure out what your model is and what you have to do that day, based on a new cycle to open your business, is very difficult,” she said.
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