{"id":53652,"date":"2020-05-28T01:36:04","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T07:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sorry-for-long-wait-but-your-table-is-ready-restaurants-open-doors-in-durango\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:05:10","slug":"sorry-for-long-wait-but-your-table-is-ready-restaurants-open-doors-in-durango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sorry-for-long-wait-but-your-table-is-ready-restaurants-open-doors-in-durango\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry for long wait, but your table is ready: Restaurants open doors in Durango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Stacey
Stacey and Cliff Allen sit down to dine Wednesday at the Fired Up Pizzeria on Main Avenue in downtown Durango. Restaurants that had been closed to inside dining since the end of March were allowed to reopen Wednesday with strict guidelines.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Flexibility, adaptability and creativity guided several restaurant crews in Durango on Wednesday, the first day they could begin serving in-person guests.<\/p>\n

Conditions were less than ideal if you wanted to turn a buck.<\/p>\n

For instance: Tables had to be 6 feet apart, capacity in dining rooms was limited to 50% with a maximum of 50 patrons, parties could be no bigger than eight people, increased cleaning is required, and voluntary logs are being kept to allow customers to note the date and time they ate to aid contact tracers if that\u2019s needed later.<\/p>\n

San Juan Basin Public Health planned to have a restaurant self-certification document on its website by the end of the day Wednesday that restaurants will have to fill out by June 2 to keep their dining rooms open.<\/p>\n

Despite the health requirements that have become another cost of doing business in the COVID-19 era, restaurateurs found ways to welcome guests.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was up at 5:30 this morning reading all the emails, seeing if there was anything new, but we\u2019re getting like three emails a day (from the state and local health officials). It\u2019s hard to keep up, but I decided I\u2019m going to open,\u201d said Lucia Thompson, the new owner of Hermosa Cafe, formerly Hermosa Coffee Roasters.<\/p>\n

\"Bill
Bill Bruyette talks with Mark Pollock with Hermosa Cafe, formerly Hermosa Coffee Roasters, on Wednesday, the first day restaurants were allowed reopen for in-person dining after being shutdown in March for the coronavirus response.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Thompson closed off her back room, spaced her tables, scheduled her frequent cleaning sessions and began greeting guests.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been so happy to sit down and enjoy small talk over a coffee and a scone. We were ready to go, and our loyal customers were ready,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hermosa Cafe\u2019s capacity is down to 35 people from 70, but Thompson said she never got close to her capacity Wednesday morning, and for that slow start, she was grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, I would be pretty nervous if we were getting close to 35 people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Thompson, who had closed for two months before reopening earlier in May for to-go only, said she purchased the business right before the COVID-19 pandemic put restrictions on her operations.<\/p>\n

The forced closure allowed her to learn the computer system and to focus on how to emphasize locally grown products.<\/p>\n

But she had obtained a Paycheck Protection Program loan, and that set the clock ticking for her to reopen.<\/p>\n

\"Dennis
Dennis Mefferd dines and talks with Joshua Hester with the Lone Spur Cafe on Wednesday, the first day restaurants were allowed reopen for in-person dining after being shut down in March for the coronavirus response.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This week she hired two employees to bring her payroll back to seven, the number of employees on staff when the COVID-19 restrictions were put in place. Seven employees are the magic number she needs to ensure her loan will be forgiven.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll meet all the restrictions, and make it work. I don\u2019t know what we would have done without it,\u201d she said of her PPP assistance.<\/p>\n

Katherine Walker, co-owner of Durango Coffee Co.<\/a>, said with the state\u2019s operational health rules changing along with the situation surrounding the novel coronavirus, it is important for her to remain nimble.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll need to adjust and adapt accordingly because I\u2019m sure the rules are going to keep changing,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we\u2019re really excited to have people come in again, that\u2019s the whole point of a coffeehouse, to come in and experience community together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marcos
Marcos Wisner, co-owner of the 11th Street Station, talks with customers Lindsey Snider, left, and Rebecca Lauterbach on Wednesday as they dine on Wednesday, the first day restaurants were allowed reopen for in-person dining after being shut down in March for the coronavirus response.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Marcos Wisner, co-owner of the 11th Street Station<\/a>, also received a PPP loan, and was up to 12 employees Wednesday as he began seating guests at his mostly outdoor facility.<\/p>\n

Staff numbers are about half of normal for this time of year, and Wisner is eager to see business improve so he can bring on more employees to ensure his PPP loan will be forgiven.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty hard to go for forgiveness when the clock starts ticking as soon as you get the money but the government tells you that you can\u2019t open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Operating an outdoor business, Wisner would like to see the best summer possible given the situation with the virus. Summer is when sales must be strong enough to carry 11th Street Station through slow winters. But Wisner is unsure what the season will bring with people still wary of traveling.<\/p>\n

\"Lynne
Lynne Clay, left, and Carrie Clay sit down to dine Wednesday at the 11th Street Station. Restaurants have been closed to in-person dining since the end of March.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Matt Arias, owner of Gazpacho<\/a>, is pessimistic summer will be anywhere near normal for Durango.<\/p>\n

He estimates 25% of normal summer sales given the reluctance of people to travel.<\/p>\n

He noted even the Colorado Tourism Office is asking travelers to keep Colorado in mind for visits when it\u2019s safer to travel later on.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when the messaging gets out that it\u2019s safe to travel, it\u2019s going to take some time to sink in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Operations at Gazpacho, like those at 11th Street Station, where table runners now bring customers food to assigned seats, have been modified to limit contacts \u2013 both with people and surfaces, such as menus.<\/p>\n

At Gazpacho, orders are now taken upon arrival. The process eliminates the need for a disposable menu, a requirement for reopening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe normally had five or six contact points before you got your food. Now, we\u2019re down to two people,\u201d Arias said.<\/p>\n

Staff numbers at Gazpacho are at 75% of normal, which is artificially high given the slow business. Given the current level of business, he said, Gazpacho would probably be at 30% of the normal staff for this time of year.<\/p>\n

Requirements of the restaurant\u2019s PPP loan are keeping staff numbers higher than what business would warrant, Arias said.<\/p>\n

In Congress, discussions have begun about extending the time businesses have for bringing back their full staff from eight weeks to 16 weeks from receipt of their PPP loan. Arias said extending the time period to bring back a full staff would make PPP far more functional for restaurants, which are still dealing with required closures in some states and with increased restrictions on operations in other states like Colorado.<\/p>\n

Still, given the options, PPP has helped Gazpacho and its employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped us keep people on staff, and it\u2019s allowed us to open our doors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Fired
Fired Up Pizzeria cleared out a center row of tables to help meet public health requirements, which call for 6 feet of distancing between tables. Wednesday was the first day restaurants were allowed reopen for in-person dining after being shutdown in March for the coronavirus response.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Brent Melville, bar manager at Fired Up Pizzeria<\/a>, said restaurateurs will have to get comfortable dealing with rapidly changing situations as much remains unknown about COVID-19, and rules will change with the situation on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with a lot of uncertainty, but everything around this whole thing is uncertain,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people who are most creative will excel during this. What you\u2019re going to need is a lot of creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018The people who are most creative will excel during this\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,314,29,4259,450],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-downtown-durango","tag-newsletter","tag-newsletter-sign-up","tag-restaurant-and-catering"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88333,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53652\/revisions\/88333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53652"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}