St Louis City and County Restaurants Reopen with News Restrictions

St. Louis City and St. Louis County restaurants shall reopen at full capacity with certain restrictions.  Please read to ensure consumer protection and restaurant compliance.  Read the St. Louis County Department of Public Health 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) – Reopen STL Order

ST LOUIS CITY/COUNTY (StLouisRestaurantReview) As reported by Fox2Now, St. Louis City and St. Louis County restaurants may open at full capacity with certain suggestions or restrictions to apply.  CLICK to view Fox2Now report/video.

KSDK has also reported confirming information.  CLICK to read and view the report.

An additional resource of information is the St. Louis City Health Department – Announcement, dated May 3, 2021

An additional resource of information is the St. Louis County Health Department – Announcement, dated May 3, 2021

While the restrictions might sound good, there are apparent restrictions that might affect certain establishments.  View all reports, and call local authorities for clarifications to ensure proper compliance.  Additionally, making customers comfortable will continue to be important until the fear begins to decline.  Clean and disinfection services should be viewed as a necessary business expense at this point.  Restaurants’ efforts to comfort and protect the community will be largely responsible for comforting patrons.

We strongly encourage restaurant owners NOT to let their guard down and not allow their employees to become too relaxed.  This pandemic is not over, but it appears to be improving.  Again, a large portion of the responsibility falls on the establishments to keep clean, disinfect, comply with CDC Guidelines and local mandates designed to protect the community.

We also suggest not make this a political topic.  It is about safety.  Some consumers take the warnings seriously.  Some do not, and discussions regarding a relaxed behavior or making it a political topic might add to consumers’ fear.  Take the restrictions seriously, protect the customers, remain clean, disinfect and remain neutral on the topic.  The most important signal that the establishment needs to send to the public is that establishments are doing everything possible to protect them during their dining experience.

While some establishments might not benefit from the new restrictions, it is certainly a move in the right direction.  Let’s not mess it up by mitigating this event.  Nobody knows the long-term effects caused by the pandemic.  Regardless of your frustrations, exhaustion, or political beliefs, stay focused on comforting and protecting customers and continue to focus on growing the business.

Additional considerations are to review your menu and its prices.  The cost of doing business has increased and will continue to increase; therefore, your prices need to reflect the increase in operating cost to ensure survival and success.  Know your numbers.  If you don’t have proper accounting procedures, get them in place to ensure that reopening at a higher cost doesn’t destroy your business after surviving a pandemic.  There is no room for errors in the future.

Additional ongoing consideration is to no ignore the delivery or online ordering.  This event has changed some consumers forever.  It is up to the entire industry to begin growing the business/industry again with many new concepts dominating the market.