Bar, restaurant owners face the challenge of a long winter

HUNTLEY – Huntley bar and restaurant owners, workers, and regular patrons were hoping Wednesday that the local businesses can survive another round of restrictions imposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health in their effort to halt the resurgence of COVID-19 infections in McHenry and Lake Counties.

The latest restrictions will kick in at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and would be in place for at least 14 days. The period could be longer, depending on whether the virus spread among people in the counties can be brought within the limits set by the state.

The state ordered that bars and restaurants stop serving customers indoors, which would likely limit most restaurants to carry-out or delivery service when the snow and temperatures start falling. Bars without carry-out licenses would be limited to serving drinks to people sitting in the outdoors.
Besides pushing patrons into the cold, the restrictions require everyone to be seated at tables, with no ordering, seating or congregating allowed along a bar. Bar stools should be removed, the rules state. Patrons waiting for a table cannot stand together or congregate indoors or outdoors. All parties must have a reservation, and no more than one party can be seated at one table, it said.

For anyone who still thinks a visit to the local bar might be fun, the state ordered, “No dancing or standing indoors.”

Tables on the patio at Parkside Pub, popular during the summer months when the umbrellas shaded diners and drinkers, sat unoccupied under large, event tents in 50-degree temperatures Wednesday afternoon. The tents, equipped with lighting and heaters, are an annual, seasonal feature of the restaurant and pub, but manager Dayna Richter said owners are now waiting for the McHenry County Health Department to determine if the walled tents will meet the requirements that all diners and drinkers be seated outdoors.

A group of nine patrons sat unmasked on adjacent stools around the bar at Sammy’s, sipping beer, chatting and taking in the evening news. They didn’t want to share their names but shared a unanimous opposition to the governor’s decision to restrict their gathering spot. One patron met a question about the restriction with extended arms and two middle fingers pointing toward the ceiling, then said the gesture was meant for the governor and not the reporter.

“Give my regards to the guv’nor, too,” said the man on the next stool.

“Tell the governor he’s got enough money to stay alive,” said another patron, gesturing toward the bartender. “But how about everybody else?”
The manager and owner of Highway 47 Pub were busy strategizing on Wednesday and didn’t want to discuss the situation with a reporter. The bar/restaurant had stayed in business after the initial March shutdown was lifted by serving diners on tables under canopies on what used to be the sidewalk and parking spots outside, along with carry-outs and deliveries. Service recently moved indoors to the bar and some tables, then came Saturday’s restrictions.

Tom Steinhable, the general manager of More Brewing Company on the far south side of Huntley, said his establishment is across the county line in Kane County and has been operating under mitigating restrictions since last Friday. The requirements for his business are diners limited to 25 guests or 25% of overall capacity in a covered space that is at least 50% open. His building, opened in February, fortunately has a large room with roll-up walls that meet the requirements.

“In the first mandates, we definitely shifted to a more to-go style,” he said. “We’re trying to focus on that again with most of our options being carry-out, curbside or delivery.” He boasted of not having to lay off one staff member this year.

Steinhable sees the recent changes around for some time, noting that the metrics don’t indicate the increase in virus spread isn’t going to slow down anytime soon.

“We’ll adjust as necessary,” he said. “…We’re probably looking to make it through the holidays with a heavier focus on carry-out and curbsde.”
Up Route 47 at Sew Hop’d Brewery, manager Katie Hoffman manned the bar and cash register for a small but steady flow of customers, a few seated social distance apart at indoor tables and one youth sitting at the picnic tables outdoors, waiting for someone who had entered the building. The impact of the new restrictions is going to depend on the weather, she said.

“We’ll keep our heated outdoor seating open as long as it makes sense to do so,” she said. “During the original part of the shutdown we created an online store for curbside pickup, and we’ll continue with that.”

Merchants banded together in March to create baskets and combinations of food and beverages to satisfy Huntley customers and keep the businesses open and operating, Hoffman said. That went past adding Sew Hop’d beer to a pizza order and included such things as a bag of chocolate treats from Morkes Chocolates teamed with an appropriate brew. Hoffman hopes that will start up again this winter and give the people of Huntley an opportunity to support local businesses.

“We’re going to take everything day by day,” Hoffman said. “During the first shutdown we did have to lay off, temporarily, almost all of our part-time, front-of-house staff. We’re just going to see how everything plays out, and we’re going to try to give people the shifts that we can.”

The name of the game for small business owners is keeping the doors open and workers employed. Hoffman is the only full-time employee at the microbrewery with seven part-timers, and the owners. “We’re a small team, but we would like to keep our team together,” she said.

Numerous bar and restaurant owners praised the people of Huntley for continuing to patronize their businesses when their doors were closed in March. They hope to see the same come Saturday.

“My hope and the hope of everyone in this area is that we see as much support and passion from our guests as we did the first time around,” she said. “People were so supportive, it was amazing.” The attitude has continued throughout the year among the local bars and restaurants.

‘We want all of us to succeed; it’s not about just one of us,” Hoffman said. “We want all of us to get through this. We’re just hoping we get that same kind of enthusiasm and support for everybody around here, because it’s going to be a long winter.”