MAINE: A PLACE OF BUSINESS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • January 29, 2021
A sign outside a Portland restaurant lays down the pandemic rules. TROY R. BENNETT / BDN FILE
process built an entirely new front desk and purchased decor that would match the mandated precautions by the Center for Disease Control. One of her other properties, Vacationland Inns, only rented rooms for essential workers in the area and instituted contactless check-in services. For Hewey and her husband, the beginning wasn’t as difficult as it was for many other local businesses. “In the beginning, it was easy for us to get prepared; I used to work in FEMA and my husband was the fire chief in Manchester for 17 years. [We were] always a few steps ahead of the pandemic. Thinking about it before it happened. It was always challenging but not as difficult for us due to our prior experience.” Restaurants in some ways have been the most affected by the regulations following the arrival of COVID-19. For months many dining rooms closed in favor of a take-out only model.
“We’ve had to adapt in many ways,” said Zack Richardson, owner of Harvest Moon Deli. With several locations scattered throughout the greater Bangor area, Harvest Moon created a curbside takeout option for their customers and adjusted how they do business. Harvest Moon Deli rearranged the inside of their locations to allow social distancing for dine-in customers. “[We] moved from a 50% dine-in, 50% takeout model to a 5% dine-in, 95% takeout model,” explained Richardson. “[We] partnered with delivery apps to help generate revenue, albeit with commissions there is little profit left post-purchase.” The deli expanded their personal protective equipment to provide extra measures in an effort to keep their staff safe and healthy as well. This included installing plexiglass barriers to provide an extra level of protection between customers and employees. “[We] limit staff working with other staff [and] try to staff in teams
to limit potential exposure between groupings of staff,” said Richardson. In the middle of March when the state should’ve been defrosting and starting to open back up for the tourist season that usually provides Maine with a nice economic boost, businesses were shutting their doors to patrons. The closure was performed as a safety measure to determine what protocol and procedures needed to be put in place to ensure the safety of customers and employees. As businesses have begun opening their doors to the public again, new regulations have come along with it. Maine businesses, along with countless others across the nation, have met this challenge head on. It’s unclear what the future holds, but the consensus is that these precautions will be here to stay for a while. The new year will no doubt bring new challenges as the pandemic remains a fluid situation, but now businesses won’t be caught off guard.
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