Connecticut today is loosening pandemic-related restrictions on restaurants and other businesses.
Restaurants no longer have 50% indoor capacity restrictions, but they still must keep six feet between tables, or install nonporous barriers between tables. Restaurants are also still subject to a mandatory 11 p.m. closing time.
Lifting capacity restrictions is good for consumer confidence, Connecticut Restaurant Association Executive Director Scott Dolch said. But they won’t have much of an impact on restaurants, since the spacing requirements likely make it impossible for them to increase the number of customers they can host.
The new rules allow for performers and musical vocalists at restaurants, outdoor and indoor events, and performing arts venues, but performers must be at least 12 feet from customers and staff, and are “strongly encouraged” to receive a negative COVID-19 test within three days of the performance, updated guidelines from Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration said. Previously, vocal musical performances weren’t allowed, due to the risk of singers spreading the virus.
All capacity limits will be eliminated for offices, but requirements for face coverings, social distancing and cleaning and disinfecting will remain in place.
The cap on indoor gatherings at event venues has increased to 100 — but must remain at 50% the facility’s capacity — and 200 for outdoor events. At private residences the caps for indoor and outdoor gatherings is 25 and 100, respectively.
Dolch said these new allowances should help companies that put on events like weddings and bar mitzvahs move toward recovery.
Starting April 2, outdoor stadiums and amphitheaters can hold events at 50% capacity, with a cap of 10,000 people. For outdoor gatherings like fireworks or concerts in municipal parks, the cap is 500 people, as long as parties that arrived together are spaced six feet apart.
The Place 2 Be eyes expansion
Greater Hartford restaurateurs have expressed optimism with the reopening efforts, but also harbor some concerns about new restrictions if COVID cases spike again like they did during the winter.
“It’s such a costly thing to try to accommodate all these restrictions… that’s what I’m really nervous about going forward,” said Gina Luari, principal of The Place 2 Be restaurant in Hartford, which invested $3,000 in barriers right before Gov. Lamont announced new restrictions on restaurants last winter.
However, things are looking brighter for The Place 2 Be, which last year expanded beyond its flagship location in Hartford’s South End into a downtown location at Constitution Plaza. In an effort to reduce the amount of time staffers and customers are in close contact, the new location features an ordering system in which diners order from their phones, and their food and drinks are then brought to their table.
“So many people love our contactless service,” said Luari, who added that contactless service will also be a feature at a new location The Place 2 Be plans to open this month in West Hartford’s posh Blue Black Square, in space formerly occupied by The Cook & The Bear restaurant.
As they train about 30 new employees who will work at the West Hartford restaurant, The Place 2 Be is also in a good position to continue doing a large volume of takeout business, since the company invested in an online ordering/point-of-sale system that streamlines the takeout order process, Luari said.
