By Melissa Cronin-Brown

Outdoor seating, limited dining capacity, increased takeout orders, and glass barriers between booths were a few options that restaurants had to utilize during the pandemic. Though some have gone back to their normal way of conducting business (pre-Covid style), many places are still operating with the restrictions for the time being. Managers are using all safety tactics they can think of to keep their beloved guests comfortable enough to eat at their establishments. Of course, there are still the irritated customers who are vocal about their complaints to certain changes. The silver lining is that this isn’t completely a turn for the worse; there are some modifications that people who work in the food industry want to see be continued from here on out. These are their stories.

Help wanted

Samantha Snyder, 18 of Westlake Village, CA, worked at BJ’s Brewhouse & Restaurant for three months before moving out of state to start her first semester at the University of Utah. She had previously worked at a small cafe during high school before the epidemic became our new reality. Once hired at BJ’s, she was then able to witness the many ups and downs of what the spring and summertime climate of this popular American franchise had to offer. 

“In my opinion, businesses are shorter staffed after the pandemic and treat reservations and seating more strictly,” said Snyder. Having recently worked with her myself as a fellow restaurant hostess, I can attest to this being very accurate. People used to be able to call ahead and reserve their name to guarantee a table before even arriving to the location. Now there are no Call-Aheads and no reservations made for parties under ten people. Attitudes and confusion often arise when we would share this news with others over the phone, as they are used to the former policies.

To mask or not

“It’s difficult explaining to people the new regulations without getting negative reactions or feedback.” Snyder continued, “Adapting to the new rules is difficult for both guests and employees, especially when regulations are constantly changing.” Something that comes to mind about this topic is the implementation of mask wearing. Workers of BJ’s were required to have masks on if they had not yet received their Covid-19 shots. This left about half of workers donning masks, while the other half walked around bare-faced. 

Many of us did stop wearing them once the majority eventually became fully vaccinated. With the surge of the new Delta virus variant, we have once again all started wearing masks again (regardless of vax status). Snyder admitted on a brighter note, “I think the increased sanitation on things like menus, door handles, and counters is a change that should stick.”

Menu rules

All hostesses at BJ’s have to wash the laminated specials menus once the guests are done looking at them. They are to be wiped down with sanitizer and a clean rag. The regular food and beverage menus are now printed out on computer paper and only handed out by request; if even the slightest food stain or dampness from a water cup is visibly on there, we throw them out. Abiding by health standards to stop the spread of germs, the QR code sticker on the tables to scan for the menus is the most encouraged form of accessing them. 

Former BJ’s server Marley Volk, 19 of Thousand Oaks, CA, left after just a few months as well to focus on her priority--her music internship. She looked back on her time as a waitress and noticed some patterns that were not always so positive. Volk reflected, “BJ’s wifi didn’t work well, so my guests often couldn’t load the menus.” Frustrated, she would then have to walk over to the host stand and grab a paper menu. Sometimes there wouldn’t be any available; a worker who had some free time had to track down a manager who could then print out more menus and bring them back up front.

Hourly changes

Volk noticed another unfortunate change that Covid-19 brought--the shorter hours that restaurants stayed open. BJ’s, for example, used to stay open until 1am on Friday and Saturday nights. Now they close at 11pm, with the exception of staying open until midnight on weekends. “I truly miss the later hours, as nothing stays open after 11pm on weekdays. I’m young and want to enjoy sitting down and eating with my friends, but now we have to call it a night a lot earlier than we would like to.” 

The BJ’s in Westlake used to also serve brunch such as breakfast items. Ever since the pandemic, this feature has gone away and only lunch and dinner selections are now being served. When asked by management if brunch will return, they simply said they don’t see that as a possibility. I have had people call us asking if we are still serving eggs and I had to sadly say we discontinued certain items. “Luckily a lot of people have been really considerate of our changes,” said Volk. As far as masks go, she said that she personally likes wearing them to avoid getting sick from coworkers and guests. 

Last summer, BJ’s had no indoor dining and only patio seating, with a large white tent in the parking lot. I received a call at work this June about a woman wanting to place a reservation for a large group for July of 2022. I was shocked that she was inquiring about something so far off into the future. My first  thought was that she was being very overly cautious with trying to make sure a venue is saved way in advance. I was about to question it, but then I realized that it exactly summed up the uncertainty in the world that we all have been experiencing, and still are, each and every day. 

Photo credit:
Menus: Melissa Cronin; Eating: Sam Lion