*
COCOV V E ID R A - 19 GE
COVID Rules Everything Around Me ///
COMING BACK OUT OF SELF ISOLATION FOR A DRINK WRITTEN BY GEORGE B. CATALLO
W
e all deserve a little break from the stress of having to constantly hear about the worst that 2020 has to offer, and for that reason I promise a respite from it in this article. There will not be one word about murder hornets. We do however need to take a look at the return to operation of on-premise alcohol consumption. As some states ease restrictions and others tighten, there will be many different moving targets for bars, restaurants, and tasting rooms to be able to have patrons consume beverages in house. Beyond safety, compliance, and logistics, people need to show up. How are we getting customers to venture back out? “In these trying times, familiarity and comfort are what people lean towards” said Daniel Campbell, general manager and beverage director of Par 3 at Poplar Creek, in San Mateo, California. “We redid our menu to have more comfort food and to be more family friendly.” Campbell also tailored the beverage menu to have a heavier leaning towards better-known craft producers while leaning out the more esoteric selections to remove another layer of minor stress for diners. This approach has certainly seemed to work. Most days Par 3 has a nearly constant presence in their now limited in-capacity outdoor dining area. The restrictions are mirrored around most of the nation; greater than six feet of space between tables, universal masking policies for staff as well as non-seated customers, being limited to outdoor seating, rigorous cleaning, and excessive use of gloves. 34
“It’s super f-----g wasteful from a glove standpoint.” said Campbell. “Any time you touch something that anyone could have possibly touched you have to change gloves. [Thoroughly] washing and sanitizing your hands would accomplish the same thing. But it’s what we have to do, so we do it.” The glove changing isn’t the only thing that is rigorous at Par 3, their online presence is by no means lacking. Persistent use of social media and a coherent online reservation and takeout ordering system is worth its weight in gold. “With so many people out of work or working from home, the volume of people on those channels is huge,” he said. Such high rates of visibility definitely directly correlate to an increase in business. When asked about the health of the business in spite of the restrictions Campbell separated the success of the restaurant itself from the venue overall. While the restaurant is knocking it out of the park, given the capacity limitations, the banquet hall and event services that usually make up 60 percent of their revenue are dead in the water. Still, they persist in overcoming the obstacles in front of them both from a safety and compliance standpoint. Another tried and true method of attracting customers is incentivizing the trip. According to W. Vito Montone the chief operations officer of ONUS Rides, the trip can be the incentive itself. ONUS incentivises giving patronage to member establishments by means of free ride share credits to the end user with their choice between Uber and Lyft. These credits are accumulated either by spending money at participating establishments WWW.ART ISANSPI RI TMAG.CO M