Winter prospects bring chills to Huntley restaurateurs

HUNTLEY, Il – In the middle of August with temperatures climbing into the 90s, MyHuntleyNews.com asked a group of Huntley restaurant managers to look ahead to the winter months when the wind chill will surely fall below freezing and arctic gusts will whip snow sideways across parking lots and patios.

For the most part, when they did look ahead, the forecast wasn’t clear or balmy.

On Coral Street, glancing through his front windows and imagining the patio filled with diners seated at tables below umbrella propane heaters, BBQ King general manager Collin Beck finally shook his head.

“When it’s twenty below, it’s not going to work,” he said. The only refuge would be inside a warm bar and restaurant.

Along with office buildings, schools, mass transit and sports stadiums, Illinois restaurants closed their doors in mid-March when health experts noted spikes in patients with COVID-19 and began to realize the emergency of the coronavirus and its spread from person to person. After weeks of improvised pickup and delivery service, only at the end of May did Gov. JB Pritzker allow restaurants to reopen for outdoor dining and then under restrictions that limited the number of diners and the distance between them. Across the state, restaurants were allowed to take over sidewalks and streets while those in strip malls and shopping centers transformed parking spaces into food tents.

Along Route 47, at Pub 47, manager Jordan Threloff stood inside his empty dining room as staff prepared for a lunch crowd on tables outside.
“We’re surviving, like anyone else right now,” he said. “Obviously, it’s not like before, being inside.”

Like most of the restaurants in Huntley, Threloff estimates business is about 50% of what it was last summer, before the virus.

“It’s definitely hurt, however, we’ve been able to keep the majority of our staff, which obviously helps,” he said. “We’re just trying to find a way to keep our head above water.”

After the state again altered restrictions to allow some indoor dining, Pub 47 kept its business outside in the tables and chairs beneath the canopies and umbrellas, separated by wooden fencing, in keeping with the design of the rustic front of the restaurant.

“We’re not doing any indoor seating right now, to keep the health and safety of our staff,” Threloff said. “You don’t want to put them at risk. You want to keep everyone safe and healthy outside, especially looking at the increased cases in the state and counties around us. We know our employees depend on this to pay their bills, and we want to keep them in a safe place.”

Pub 47 was able to keep staff working and the business open through takeouts and deliveries as well as the outdoor seating. Now, when asked about what will happen when the weather changes, Threloff looks at the empty tables and chairs inside his establishment.

“When it gets cold, we don’t know,” he said. “Honestly, we’re trying to figure out what exactly would be the best plan. We’re talking about bringing people inside, if we need to or when we need to, when that would happen. Maybe adding heat lamps outside and doing other protective things to keep the outdoor space as warm as possible. We don’t really have a solution yet, mainly because this is an ongoing thing.”

The middle of the pandemic would probably not be the choice by most people of when to open a new business, but that’s what the Sterk family did when Street Slice Pizza Café opened on July 15 along Main Street.

Steve Sterk, co-owner with his son, Brad, and his wife, Anita, worked the counter one afternoon this week, said the pizza was the key.
“The pizza business is one of the unique food business where it seems like (the pandemic) is helping us,” he said. “It’s sad to say. I think it’s because the price point of pizza is not too high, especially our slice business. You can grab a slice pretty quick.”

The family started looking at the pizza business last fall, long before COVID-19 existed.

“As we were looking at spaces, figuring out costs and business plans, everything was fine and we didn’t know this was going to happen,” Sterk said. “We didn’t open until July 15, which was several months after the virus outbreak.”

Although he doesn’t have a pre-pandemic summer for comparison, Sterk said business has been about what they expected. A few tables inside the restaurant aren’t too busy but the few tables on the sidewalk in front of the building have a steady flow, although Sterk said he does about 75% of his business in takeouts.

He doesn’t see that slowing down when the weather turns wintry. To help, the pizzeria owners are thinking of adding delivery services for customers who won’t want to drive in the elements.

Beck, at BBQ King, said receipts for his restaurant are about half what they were before the pandemic. One surprise has been a pick-up in pickups, with carry-outs now accounting for about 40% of the restaurant’s business. They also added delivery services on the weekend.

For people dining at the restaurant, most sit at tables and chairs on the front patio, which is great in a summery breeze.

“It’s very weather dependent right now,” Beck said. “Winter time, who knows? We do have heaters out there, but when it’s twenty below it’s not going to happen.” He estimates the heaters may not offer relief below about 50 degrees. If people aren’t comfortable moving indoors, or if the state regulations don’t permit it, Beck says they’ll rely on carryouts and deliveries.

“We’ll be fine, as long as the community keeps supporting us like they have been,” he said. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for the community supporting us, then is there any way we’re open? No. So, we appreciate everything they’ve done for us.”

On the other side of the park from BBQ King, a steady flow of customers keeps the established patio happily busy at the Parkside Pub. Manager Dayna Richter said the service outside has shown no sign of letting up.

“Business is actually still very busy,” she said. “Maybe not so much inside. But business is still booming. Everyone is coming out to support. We’re following all the precautions.”
The shift in business to the patio means about 80% of receipts come from customers outdoors. In winters past, the Parkside has been able to keep that up with large tents with walls and heaters.

“You’d be surprised. With the tents, if we are able to do the tents with the heaters, we can have it warmer than it would be (inside). It’s almost like you’re not sitting outside on a patio. We have walls on the tents, and that’s the thing that we don’t know what’s going to be allowed and what’s not.”

Whether state regulations are going to allow outside service when the tent walls are lowered and secured is still to be determined.

“We are not aware of how that is going to go as far as the winter, as of yet. We don’t know if the guidelines are going to change. They do change on almost a weekly basis sometimes, so we don’t know yet. We just keep adjusting as much as we can, follow the rules and still be able to take care of guests, and still be employed.”