Mexican/Latin restaurants that are now partially open are overwhelmingly requiring their employees to wear masks and they are separating tables in their dining rooms to meet new social distancing rules, according to a survey of el Restaurante readers.
Twenty-four percent of respondents have reopened their dining rooms, and all of those are at partial capacity, ranging from 25 percent to 75 percent. Of those that are open, 100 percent are requiring their employees – at least those who face customers – to wear facemasks. (See the chart for other safety procedures those restaurants have established.)
“In our county, it’s not mandatory to wear masks, but the health inspectors said it’s preferred,” says Daniel Gonzalez, co-owner of Lozano’s Mexican Restaurant in Immokalee, Florida, which partially reopened in early May. “So our waitresses and cashiers are wearing masks, and our cashiers are wearing gloves because they’re handling money.”
In addition to those measures, Gonzalez says they’ve placed hand sanitizers on all the tables; condiments have been removed; and menus are thoroughly sanitized between each use. Also, Gonzalez added two bussers to handle the extra sanitizing work.
“You got to sanitize everything that gets touched,” he says. “It’s for the best.”
Kevin Grant, owner of Zia Taqueria in Charleston, South Carolina, was allowed to open his patio – which seats 28 patrons under the current social distancing rules – on May 4, and he opened his dining room at 50 percent capacity on May 11.
“My dining room is quite tight and the current regulations require eight feet between tables, so we’re really only at 43 percent capacity,” Grant says. “We removed some tables and it doesn’t look like our usual dining room – it looks totally weird.”
Other anti-COVID precautions Grant has taken include moving a self-serve iced tea and water station out of the dining room and providing hand sanitizer to customers and employees. In addition, he has added on-call shift workers so that employees feel free to call in sick if they experience any COVID symptoms.
“I want them to understand that we have someone else available if they don’t feel well,” Grant says. So far no employee has shown symptoms, he says.
The new rules for combating COVID can be burdensome, but Gonzalez notes that following them assures customers that they will be safe eating there.
“If you follow the guidelines like you’re supposed to, you won’t have a problem,” Gonzalez says. “If you don’t, people will notice and they won’t come to your restaurant.”