Beginning Friday capacity limits imposed on Connecticut restaurants due to COVID-19 will be lifted, and chatter among Greater Hartford restaurateurs is marked by something virtually unheard-of over the past year: optimism.
After a year of COVID-related losses and layoffs, progress in the state’s vaccine roll out paired with planned rollbacks in state-mandated restrictions are sparking hope in Connecticut’s beleaguered restaurant industry ahead of what could be boom times as the weather gets warmer.
Additionally, Greater Hartford restaurants like the Wood-n-Tap have been experimenting with innovations and technological upgrades over the past year that will remain after the pandemic.
Phil Barnett, co-owner/founder of Wood-n-Tap parent Hartford Restaurant Group, also said outdoor dining will be important for HRG going forward. The group spent about $200,000 on tents between last year and this year. Revenue is off about 25%, but with outdoor dining this year, Barnett said he thinks HRG this summer could get back to pre-pandemic revenue levels.
HRG also revamped its online ordering system, a move Barnett said was planned before the pandemic. Additionally, the group’s restaurants introduced takeout options like meal kits (like the taco kit, which includes all the fixings for an at-home taco night), packs (like the Game Day pack with burger bites, wings and a dip) and other deals they didn’t think to offer before COVID.
Barnett thinks continuing these offerings is important, because he believes the pandemic fast-tracked an already existing trend toward takeout and delivery. During the pandemic takeout has accounted for nearly 45% of HRG’s sales, compared with between 10% and 18% before, Barnett said. After the pandemic recedes, he thinks takeout could account for as much as one-third of HRG’s sales.
“We do believe that buyers’ behaviors will have changed, and will continue to change,” Barnett said. “It will be part of them in the future.”
To be sure, lifting restrictions — which currently restrict eateries to 50% capacity — won’t allow them to pack their businesses with people. That’s because restaurants will still need to space tables six feet apart, or separate them with non-porous barriers like plexiglass. But Connecticut Restaurant Association Executive Director Scott Dolch said Friday’s shift could help persuade some pandemic-weary diners that restaurants are safe.
“Everything has been consumer confidence driven,” Dolch said. “I think the announcement was more about that, and letting consumers know restaurants are safe.”
Additionally, $28.6 billion in funding earmarked for restaurants in the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill President Joe Biden signed into law this month could net about $1 billion for Connecticut’s restaurant industry, Dolch said. Those funds could be a major source of relief for restaurants that have taken on enormous amounts of debt while struggling to remain in business over the past year, Dolch said.
