Bars trying to get by in San Mateo County

“I had to use a lot of my own money to get through without being open,” said Schleicher, who lost his job as an employee of the Freeman Company, a live event and convention experience agency, due to the pandemic but anticipates returning in the fall.

By August, Schleicher had applied for a catering permit to begin selling food at his bar. Without food service, bars, wineries and breweries were more restricted than restaurants that served alcohol. The merchants weren’t allowed to open indoors or outside without offering food until the county entered the orange tier.

A recent change to the tier system now prohibits bars that don’t serve food from opening indoors but allows wineries and breweries without food menus to provide outdoor services in the red tier and to open at 25% capacity in the orange.

If those establishments do offer some type of food though, the shop is treated like restaurants which are permitted to expand capacity to 50% in the current orange tier, indicating a moderate risk of spreading the virus.

“I don’t understand why food has anything to do with it,” said Schleicher, noting the expense of setting up a catering tent with food has been “not that bad.”

Now, Steamies features a catering tent where customers can purchase small bites with the drinks. Schleicher said he doesn’t intend to keep the modest investment for good, noting a return to normalcy feels closer than ever.

Forced to adapt

Alternatively, Robert Carroll, the owner of Sodini’s Lounge and Bar in Redwood City said he’s been in constant fear a permanent closure was in the near future and the food service has only been an added burden. Supplies along with the power it takes to make the food has cost him $250 a week but returns on the investment are insignificant.

Offering food also puts his employees and customers at greater risk than traditional bar service, said Carroll. Instead of only handling glassware, staff has to handle food, plates and utensils.

“A bar is a pretty sterile environment when just serving drinks,” said Carroll. “My bartender used to make a drink, put the drink down and just walk away.”

But Carroll notes that bars are taking on the extra work to open and to keep the county’s business compliance task force at bay. Midway into the pandemic, county officials launched the task force to field complaints from the public and to verify establishments are complying with COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions.

Initially, the task force was intended to first educate business owners about what was required of them to stay open before issuing citations. As the virus worsened in the county, officials said they’d move toward more aggressively citing repeat violators.

“It’s a communication problem because there’s bars opening that are not doing any food and bars that do do it,” said Carroll. “Bar’s are just doing the minimum so they don’t get busted.”

The task force had visited Sodini’s in November and December to tell Carroll he couldn’t have customers inside, he had to be serving food to stay open and that customers couldn’t sit outside for longer than 30 minutes.

After getting his catering license in November, a surge of COVID-19 cases forced the entire state into a second lockdown, closing Sodini’s by December. But while closed, Sodini’s was issued a $500 fine for allegedly running a speakeasy as he described it and said officials informed him they were about to issue a warrant to enter the building.

Ultimately, Carroll paid $250 after explaining to county officials that an employee was likely at the bar playing music while cleaning. Since reopened Feb. 24, he said the task force hasn’t been by once.

“I’d rather not serve food here but I do it because we got to get open. I don’t think any business in the Bay Area can stay closed for a year and survive,” said Carroll.

Restaurants adapting too

Aiming to avoid the confusing guidelines around bar protocol, Tyler MacNiven, the co-owner of the restaurant Buck’s of Woodside, said the establishment has opted to keep its bar closed.

A full-service bartender would also be needed to serve bar patrons but would be faced with limited customers after social distancing guidelines were accommodated. Without 6 feet of separation, the bartop still sits fewer than 10 customers at a time.

“It’s kind of like growing back into it and there’s more than one step. The bar’s the last thing to happen,” said MacNiven. “It’s not on the forefront of my mind.”

Instead, the owners have decided to focus on overseeing the other 120 seats both indoors and outside the restaurant. Two high top tables in the bar area will be opened when tableside service begins Wednesday but for the time being, servers will be responsible for filling drink orders.

Still, as the county continues to see business restrictions lifted, entering the orange tier on Wednesday, March 17, MacNiven said his immediate thought was around needing to boost staffing.

“We’ve been anticipating it for a while so it wasn’t a huge surprise but ultimately everyone on the management text conversion were sending confetti emojis,” said MacNiven. “Because we’ve gone back and forth several times the move to full capacity will be exhilarating.”

Schleicher and Carroll were also pleased to learn the county was moving through the tiers. Each merchant noted weather conditions largely affect customer interest in sitting indoors or outside and greater capacity means business is closer to returning to normal.

Vaccines have also played a key role in changing how the business owners feel about the shift in tiers. As more potential customers get vaccinated, and eventually employees, people feel more comfortable with dining out, including inside establishments.

“Once everybody's vaccinated we’re all going to have a big party,” said Schleicher. “People are so tired of wearing masks and meetings like that once may come around. It's going to be good, going to be really good.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext.106