After weeks of watching the coronavirus spread from China to more than 100 countries, we have our first confirmed cases in Dallas-Fort Worth. Fearing a spread of the virus, Dallas-area restaurateurs are starting to announce their plans to sanitize kitchens.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there’s no evidence that the coronavirus, called COVID-19, can be transmitted through food or on packaging. Still, the CDC urges food handlers to wash their hands with soap and water regularly for 20 seconds, because it is possible that someone could catch the virus “by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes,” says the website.
On March 12, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson sent a letter to Starbucks customers warning them that changes could be coming to their local coffee shop.
“While we are currently maintaining regular operations across the U.S.and Canada, our stores are prepared to modify operations,” he writes. “... We may adapt the store experience by limiting seating to improve social distancing, enable mobile order-only scenarios for pickup via the Starbucks App or delivery via Uber Eats, or in some cases only the drive-thru will be open. As a last resort, we will close a store if we feel it is in the best interest of our customers and partners, or if we are directed to do so by government authorities. In any such situation, we expect store disruption to be temporary.”
Phil Romano, a Dallas restaurateur who co-operates Trinity Groves, a development in West Dallas with more than a dozen restaurants and bars, says he is “concerned.”
“But we just have to see how this shakes out,” he says. So far, no business owners interviewed for this story had plans to close their restaurants, Trinity Groves included. Some Chinese restaurants in D-FW have reported lower sales. Business remains slow at some of those restaurants, we reported in a follow-up story.
“People are scared,” said one Richardson restaurateur in that story.
At Eatzi’s, the gourmet eatery founded in part by Romano, crews have started sanitizing credit-card pin pads, surface areas and both sides of all door handles more regularly. Like many restaurants, it has put out more hand-sanitizing dispensers. Eatzi’s ordered touchless hand sanitizer dispensers to replace manual ones, says Adam Romo, Eatzi’s CEO.
“I have personally never seen anything like the coronavirus,” Romo says. “The velocity of transmission combined with its high mortality rate makes this virus uniquely different from past novel diseases such as SARS, MERS and H1N1.”
He chooses to be hopeful. “With the brightest medical minds in the world working around the clock, I am confident a cure and vaccine will be developed soon.”
At Revolver Brewing in Granbury, they’ve decided to temporarily suspend their beer tours on Saturdays. The operators wrote on Facebook, “We love welcoming all of you into our production facility every Saturday, but it is out of an abundance of caution that we are closing our production areas to the general public.”
At Sushi Marquee in Frisco, dishes, flatware and glasses are being sanitized twice. Employees are also spending extra time cleaning the handles and nozzles on the beverage fountains as well as the ice bins.
The extra effort at any restaurant is tough to quantify right now, as health and food safety standards already require restaurants to adhere to sanitation guidelines.
Shell Shack, which has locations in Plano, Arlington, Mesquite, Denton and Fort Worth, has asked its employees to adhere to a new, two-page cleaning and sanitizing document created specifically since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Patriot Sandwich Company, a new military-themed restaurant in Denton, will have more hand sanitizer available to customers, says co-owner David Jordan. He’s asking staff members who feel ill to seek medical care. His employees don’t get paid time off (PTO), but they can opt in to get health insurance through the HR company Patriot Sandwich Company uses.
Care comes at a cost. And unlike Patriot Sandwich Company, some restaurateurs don’t offer health insurance to employees.
Further, the Texas Department of State Health Services has restrictions on who can be tested for COVID-19 because of “current testing capacity limitations,” according to a department memo. The latest criteria for when someone in Texas can be tested for the coronavirus requires that person to have fever and-or symptoms of a lower respiratory illness plus close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient; history of travel to affected areas; or health factors that could put them at risk of getting sick.
Paid sick leave could be another challenge for small business owners. According to Kate Weiser, all employees at Kate Weiser Chocolate have PTO, and she increased those numbers in early February 2020. Weiser’s three shops in D-FW are all in high-trafficked areas: Trinity Groves and NorthPark Center, both in Dallas, and The Shops at Clearfork in Fort Worth. She made the change so that employees who feel sick can stay home and still get paid.
Just this week, the parent company of Olive Garden, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s and more announced that every employee will get paid sick leave, according to CNBC. That company, Darden Restaurants, operates dozens of restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth and employs hundreds of local workers.
Reusable containers are a concern for restaurant and shop owners across the country. On March 4, Starbucks announced it will not allow customers to bring in personal cups. (Those who do will still receive a 10-cent discount, but their drink will be served in a throw-away cup.)
At Mixt, a healthful restaurant in Uptown Dallas, founders Leslie and David Silverglide sent a memo to their guests saying they would temporarily stop using refillable beverage and food containers. Mixt restaurants also pledge to disinfect door handles, tables and countertops every 30 minutes.
For now, restaurants remain a place for people to gather. A spokesperson from Cotton Patch Cafe, which has restaurants in more than 20 D-FW cities, says cleanliness and sanitation are always on the minds of their employees, but “even more now” over coronavirus concerns.
“Our cafes serve as a gathering place for family and communities alike, which makes all of their safety utmost priority,” says a spokesperson.
And what if customers decide to stay home?
Restaurants in Trinity Groves haven’t seen a dip in traffic, says Romano, and he’s hopeful that customers will continue to patronize his restaurants. But he and many other restaurateurs interviewed by The Dallas Morning News believe food delivery will become more prominent. That could give a boost to the already-popular industry of online and app-based food delivery, anchored by companies like UberEats, Grubhub and DoorDash. A study estimated the market to be worth $82 billion in 2018 and predicted that it could balloon to a $200 billion industry by 2025.
At Mixt, the company is waiving all delivery fees for catering orders. At Eatzi’s, the company has been working on launching an online ordering system after the launch of its holiday ordering 18 months ago. Regular Eatzi’s delivery is not ready yet; the program will start with online ordering and in-person pick-up at stores this summer, Romo says. The company will offer at-home delivery later this year.
A shared sentiment seems to be proliferating among restaurateurs: Don’t panic, but take precautions.
“With the unknown threat of coronavirus to our community, we are encouraged to retreat into isolation,” Mixt’s founders write in a statement to customers. “While this is needed to protect everyone, especially our most vulnerable, it puts small businesses like ours in uncharted territory. What can you do? Continue to support your local businesses where you can. We want nothing more than for all of us to get through this together. Our wish is to continue to serve you fresh, delicious food and to support the livelihood of our hardworking teams.”
Updated at 8:58 p.m. March 10, 2020 to show more positive coronavirus cases found in D-FW, in Dallas and Tarrant counties.
Updated at 5:45 p.m. March 11, 2020 to show that Revolver Brewing is temporarily suspending its tours.
Updated at 10:25 a.m. March 12, 2020 with a statement from Starbucks.
