Texas bars are ready to serve drinks again. Here’s how they plan to do it

Texas bars have a plan to reopen when they get the green light from Gov. Greg Abbott.

Texas restaurants were allowed to reopen to 25% of their capacity earlier this month, but bars didn’t make the cut.

That’s when Texas Restaurant Association officials reached out to bar owners across the state to help them come up with a plan to reopen.

“The inside of a bar is not much different from the inside of a restaurant,” said Dr. Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association, during a video press briefing Tuesday morning.

Even without a significant drop in the number of COVID-19 cases across the state, Texas has allowed several types of businesses to reopen, including retail stores and hair salons. Gyms are next in line to reopen, with some restrictions, on Monday. But bars have been sitting still.

Abbott said Tuesday that he is looking at plans to reopen bars, but that precautions must be taken before doing so to prevent a spike in cases. Abbott used as an example South Korea, where bars were recently allowed to reopen.

Within days, at least two dozen new COVID-19 cases were linked to a 29-year-old man who had visited three nightclubs in Seoul and later tested positive for the virus.

“Extra precautions are needed to make sure that bars are not a catalyst for an increase in COVID-19,” Abbott said. “Obviously, if you’re drinking something at a bar, they can’t be having a mask on.”

Much like the reopening of restaurants, the keys to reopening bars are social distancing and sanitation, said Kelsey Erickson Streufert, vice president of government affairs and advocacy of the Texas Restaurant Association.

The plan, dubbed the Texas Bar Promise, offers minimum guidelines on how bars can open while ensuring the safety of customers and employees.

To maintain social distancing, the plan recommends bars create physically designated “individual party areas” within an establishment. Parties would be limited to six people, and groups would have to maintain 6 feet of space from other groups at all times. The plan calls for a designated employee to enforce these rules during every shift.

These limits were designed to minimize “mingling” within a bar, Erickson Streufert said.

The plan also calls for hand-sanitizing stations, disposable or digital menu options, and employee health screenings before every shift. The plan asks bars to make sure garnishes, glassware and other items typically available at a bar top are not accessible to customers.

Patrons must also do their part under the plan. Those with COVID-19 symptoms or known contact with someone who has the virus would be urged to stay home.

The Texas Bar and Nightclub Alliance also recently submitted a 10-point plan to Abbott on how to reopen bars. The plan is similar to the Texas Restaurant Association’s plan, but it also recommends using plastic cups and paper plates. That plan also suggests giving the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission the legal authority to shut down any bar that poses a threat to public safety for 90 days.

Texas bars have suffered an estimated $600 million loss in gross revenue over the past couple of months, equating to a more than $42 million loss in liquor tax revenue for Texas, according to the Texas Restaurant Association.

With a plan ready to go, bar owners hope Abbott could give them the chance to open as soon as Friday.

“We’re hoping to hear something very shortly,” Knight said.

But even if bars are allowed to reopen, some owners are hesitant to do so.

“Personally, we’re very skeptical of opening soon,” said Taylor Samuels, owner of Las Almas Rotas in Fair Park.

Las Almas Rotas has been open for food to go and delivery, but many changes would be needed to open the dining room and bar safely, Samuels said.

“You don’t have a lot of room,” Samuels said. “Part of what makes our place special is the intimacy of the room.”

Samuels said a designated employee in charge of enforcing social distancing rules would be a tough job. That employee would likely also be responsible for temperature checks and getting contact information from customers in case someone at the restaurant were to become infected to help with contact tracing.

Even if Abbott were to allow bars to reopen this week, Las Almas Rotas is still at least a month away from opening its doors for dine-in service, Samuels said, adding that he wants to take a wait-and-see approach to see how business goes for other bars.

“At the end of the day, if customers don’t come back, it doesn’t matter,” Samuels said.

Samuels isn’t alone. Omar Yeefoon, owner of Shoals Sound & Service in Deep Ellum, said he’s not ready to open his doors soon either.

“As far as making sure people are actually safe, as opposed to feeling safe, there needs to be more training,” Yeefoon said. “There needs to be quite a bit more guidance.”

While he believes more needs to be done from a health safety standpoint, Yeefoon said he also needs more time to pivot his business model for a lower occupancy and prepare for the possibility of a second shutdown if cases were to rise again.

The Texas Restaurant Association’s plan could face some pushback across North Texas.

Dallas County on Monday released a color-coded guide offering advice to residents on whether and how often they should go out based on the risk for transmission of COVID-19. The document is not an order but is offered as a guide.

Under the guide, Dallas County is currently in the red phase, indicating a high community risk for transmission of the virus. In the red, Dallas County residents are encouraged to avoid dining in at restaurants.

“Remember, just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should do it,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement. “Discouraged actions should not be considered as personal infringements but rather as acts of solidarity with local health professionals, our neighbors, and those with whom we care for most.”