Boise restaurants try to keep serving customers despite coronavirus fears
Coronavirus has forced cancellations of events all over the Treasure Valley. Now that it’s here, health authorities are warning us more than ever of the need to wash hands, cover our coughs and keep our distance from people.
But through last week, no authorities were saying we couldn’t eat out. That has changed in recent days, especially after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious-disease expert, said on Sunday that he did not rule out supporting a temporary national lockdown of the country’s restaurants and bars.
President Donald Trump followed that on Monday by urging Americans not to eat out, drink at bars, gather in large groups or shop or travel unnecessarily.
The virus has affected Boise-area restaurants in different ways. This week, a few closed temporarily. Others began deliveries, switched to take-out or both.
Among restaurants seeing a drop in patronage are buffets, where strangers serve themselves food in close proximity to one another, using utensils that others have touched.
Chuck-a-Rama Buffet operates 10 restaurants in Utah and one apiece in Boise and Idaho Falls. Business has fallen at all of them, District Manager Thomas Robinson said Friday by phone from Idaho Falls. The Boise restaurant is in the Boise Spectrum Center on Overland Road.
“Things have slowed down across our company,” Robinson said. “All of the stores have been impacted, just like every other business.”
The chain is working to keep customers and workers safe, he said. Workers wear rubber gloves and change them often. Serving spoons are replaced each time a new dish is brought to the buffet line.
Wall-to-wall cleaning at Chuck-a-Rama
For years, Chuck-a-Rama has sanitized its restaurants from wall to wall three days a week, Robinson said. Now that sanitization takes place nightly.
“Our employees already wash their hands very often, but we’re having them wash their hands again every half-hour just to be extra careful,” Robinson said.
Workers monitor the buffet line and step in to prevent people, including young children, from touching food with their hands. For years, Chuck-a-Rama has posted signs asking parents to accompany children through the line.
“But we know that doesn’t always happen, and our employees are on the lookout for that,” Robinson said. “Every store has taken pans off the line and just thrown the food away when things like that happen.”
Golden Corral workers wash hands 3 times an hour
Golden Corral, a Chuck-a-Rama competitor at 8460 Emerald St, is sanitizing surfaces touched by customers and changing all serving utensils every 30 minutes. Workers are required to wash their hands every 20 minutes or when switching tasks.
“We implemented additional preventive measures to address coronavirus concerns and to maintain a clean and safe environment for our co-workers and our guests,” CEO Lance Trenary said in a statement.
An internal website set up by the Raleigh, North Carolina, company provides managers of all of its restaurants with guidelines and updated information.
Richard’s business falls
Richard’s Restaurant, inside the Inn at 500 Capitol in downtown Boise, has seen business drop. Boise-area hotels are hurting from the virus pandemic.
“We are feeling it to the tune of about 30%, General Manager Jim Borton Jr. said by email late last week.
Bardenay moves customers apart
Business at Bardenay Restaurant & Distillery in Boise and Eagle had not been hurt by late last week, the owner said.
“Actually, business has been very strong, happy to say” Kevin Settles said Friday by phone. “But we’re definitely watching what’s happening in other cities and other places and doing our due diligence to make sure we’re doing all the right things.”
On Tuesday, March 17, Settles decided to close his restaurants for at least five days, because an employee may have been exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19 in a neighboring state.
The cancellation Thursday, March 12, of the Big Sky Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournament then going on at CenturyLink Arena, two blocks from the downtown Bardenay’s Basque Block location, had no immediate impact, Settles said.
But Bardenay’s nearby private dining room, which attracts business travelers from out of town, was affected, though local groups continued using that space, he said.
Before closing Tuesday, Bardenay used test strips several times a day to make sure sanitizer solutions were at the proper strength. Every day, managers walked through the kitchen to ensure refrigerators were at the right temperature.
Bardenay rearranged its tables so customers weren’t so close to one another.
“I think people are comfortable sitting at a table with their friends, but they’d rather not sit at a table with a stranger,” Settles said.
Health department urges restaurants: Put up signs
Local health departments inspect restaurants regularly. Restaurants must obtain licenses from them.
Health officials insist that sick people stay away.
The biggest thing restaurants can do to prevent customers or workers from getting infected is to post signs at the entrance asking patrons not to enter if they’re sick, said Brandon Atkins, a program manager for the Central District Health Department in Boise.
“If restaurants were to reinforce to their patrons that are coming in, please do not come into the restaurant if you’re feeling unwell, especially during this time that we know respiratory illnesses are being spread through airborne particles people are breathing in the same areas,” Atkins said.
For years, parents have been told not to let their children go to school if they’re running a fever, he said. They’re not supposed to be in places where others could be exposed to what they have.
“Why would that messaging be any different for any adult in a public setting?” Atkins asked. “If you’re actively showings signs or symptoms of a respiratory illness that includes coughing, fever, body aches, you should not be out in public sharing that with other people. You should be calling your health care provider.”
This story was revised Monday, March 16, and Tuesday, March 17, to reflect new advice by President Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about patronizing restaurants amid the coronavirus crisis; and to include Bardenay’s temporary closure.
This story was originally published March 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
