As Idaho stands poised to enter Stage Three of reopening, local bars prepare to open at what could be 50% capacity.
According to the Idaho Rebounds Stage Three protocols, bars, breweries, wineries and distilleries will be required to maintain six feet between employees and patrons, even if that means operating at half capacity.
“Our top priority is to keep our customers and employees safe,” Marc Trivelpiece, the owner of The Corner Club, said.
Trivelpiece said he expects the bar will make small, temporary changes like rearranging seating and replacing hand dryers with paper towels.
“I don’t know exactly what it will look like, honestly,” Trivelpiece said. “Some places are doing a lot and others have just said F it.”
The Plant Bar and Grill plans to open on May 30 with some changes when compared to the way the bar functioned before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelli Chandler, the owner of Plant, said a few of the changes patrons will see include the use of the dance floor to spread out tables, employees in masks and a plexiglass sneeze guard at the bar.
“The protocols suggest that we serve drinks to our customers, but that is hard to do at Plant because of the nature of our bar,” Chandler said. “It makes it even harder when I only have one or two employees working over the summer.”
Other changes might include being required to wear a mask while using the karaoke machine, a change in the arrangement of the darts games and the use of plastic cups.
“I don’t think that the before-COVID normal will be the normal anymore,” Chandler said.
Ben*, the owner of Mingles Bar and Grill, plans to maintain social distancing by keeping the tables six feet apart, limiting the use of pool tables and closely following the protocols for Stage Three of Idaho Rebounds.
Mingles is currently open, operating under its restaurant license in order to serve food and drinks. The bar was closed until May 30, but alcohol was still available for purchase.
“We are open now for people to drink, but it is a different kind of drinking,” Ben said.
The Stage Two protocols for Idaho Rebounds are not the only things impeding normal business proceedings at Mingles.
“If it wasn’t for some help from landlords, we probably would have closed down because of all of this,” Ben said.
Mingles generally operates with about 30 employees, but the shutdown and end of the semester means many of their employees have moved on to other places. The restaurant is currently operating with only about 10 staff members.
On top of being crunched for money and employees, Mingles is paying more for the food it serves because of supply chain issues.
Ben said he had to turn away from his usual vendor because they could not provide enough beef for the restaurant. He found another vendor, but the price was double what Ben had paid for the same amount of beef four days earlier.
“I just want to let (our customers) know that we appreciate their business and hope to see them when we completely open,” Ben said.
John’s Alley Tavern, Champions and the Garden Lounge did not respond for comment.
*Ben declined to provide his last name to The Argonaut after multiple requests to do so.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5