‘Breathe deep and know you are safe’: Boise restaurant installs anti-COVID air system
John Berryhill prides himself in being a doer.
When the coronavirus hit, he pivoted his popular brunch restaurant, Bacon, to carryout and delivery. Bacon went on to have its biggest Mother’s Day ever, he says.
In June, before city and county leaders mandated facial coverings, Bacon laid down its own mask edict. How did customers respond? On weekends, a waiting line stretches outside the restaurant at 121 N. 9th St., where Boiseans dine indoors and outside.
But patio season won’t last forever. Soon, diners increasingly will be faced with the prospect of eating indoors.
So Berryhill is leading the way again.
In the last two weeks, Bacon has invested in a technology called needlepoint bipolar ionization (NBPI). By retrofitting heating and cooling filtration systems, NPBI sanitizes air by using charged particles to deactivate pathogens. Increasingly, evidence suggests that aerosols are a possible method of coronavirus transmission.
Bipolar ionization is not a new invention. And until specific COVID-19 testing is done, some experts say caution is warranted. But more businesses are installing the systems. This summer, Texas-based Flix Brewhouse — a dine-in movie theater chain — had bipolar ionization put into all 87 of its screening auditoriums, according to the Seattle Times.
“Welcome to clean air!” Bacon recently posted on social media and inside the restaurant. “… Contact with ions disrupts the pathogens’ surface proteins, rendering them inactive (including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19).
“Breathe deep and know that you are safe here.”
For Bacon, it’s another potential virus-fighting measure — along with social distancing, sanitizing tables, and wearing masks and gloves. Cleaner air helps everyone feel more comfortable, Berryhill says.
That includes employees. All day long, air blows into the faces of staffers near hoods in the open kitchen. Adding four NPBI units to the HVAC system, at about $700 apiece, was a welcome, affordable concept, Berryhill says. The devices, sold locally, are manufactured by Global Plasma Solutions (GPS) of Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I talked to my staff; they had input on it,” Berryhill says. “And they liked it.”
Talking about NPBI in layman’s terms isn’t easy, Berryhill admits. “I wasn’t really good in science or math,” he explains with a laugh. “Pictures help!”
But customers seem appreciative, he adds. Bacon’s new marketing includes the tagline, “We’re doing more to keep you and us safe, even if you can’t see it!”
Don’t be surprised if similar air-purifying systems pop up at other Idaho restaurants. Berryhill has shared information about NPBI with FARE Idaho, a local group of restaurants, farms and food-and-beverage businesses — other “doers,” Berryhill explains.
Bottom line? With fall and winter around the corner, making diners feel safer indoors makes sense, he says.
“It seems a no-brainer to me,” he says.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 3:31 PM.