MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Monday Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lifted her stay-at-home order and announced restaurants and bars in Michigan can reopen June 8.
Dining rooms and bars can only allow half of their usual customers inside at any one time. For smaller restaurants half-capacity isn't enough to justify the added expense of bringing back the extra staff that would be needed to offer indoor dining.
"We want to open back up for full service we do," said Kristi Buris, owner of the U.S. 31 Bar-B-Q in Muskegon.
Since May the restaurant has offed walk up window service to customers.
"We had to get creative which we've done," Buris said.
The 50% capacity restriction is enough to keep Buris from opening for indoor dining June 8.
"We'd only be allowed to use maximum four stools and three tables," Bruis said. "There's no way we could function like that."
Down the road, staff at Hamburger Mikey have worked over the last two-months to fine tune curbside service. The restaurant has a seating capacity of 25. So instead of opening the dining room next week Hamburger Mikey co-owner Tim Taylor may add outdoor seating.
"We have a pretty big parking lot," Taylor said.
To reopen indoor dining restaurants and bars must keep six feet of distance between tables and ensure that workers wear masks.
"I'll have plenty of space between my seats," said Ted Fricano owner of Fricano's Muskegon Lake and TED'S in Spring Lake.
"We're going to open," Fricano said Tuesday. "The public wants us to be open."
At both Fricano's Muskegon Lake and TED'S, staff will seat guests at every other table and seating at the bar will be spaced out.
"We have got to look for the silver lining under this very dark cloud that's hung over us for months," Fricano said.
Some restaurant owners tell 13 ON YOUR SIDE they're concerned about how quickly the food distribution chain can get up to speed and get supplies to restaurants and bars around the state that are planning to reopen June 8.
"I said from the beginning that until I can open up with no restrictions we're going to stick to take out and the community has embraced it," Bruis said.
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