BOISE, Idaho — It has now been over a month since Gov. Brad Little announced restaurants could reopen their dining rooms during Stage 2 of the state's reopening plan.
The question was raised: How many will follow protocols to allow them to stay open?
“The biggest change is spacing obviously,” 13th Street Pub and Grill Manager Justin Zora said. “We created much larger spaces between the tables and broke up some of our big tops.”
Zora told KTVB that 13th Street has moved some of their tables outside to help accommodate six-foot distancing protocols. They’ve also started to sanitize the restaurant on a more regular basis.
“Sanitizing high traffic areas, a lot more frequently, you’re seeing the QR codes for menus so people can use their phone,” Zora said.
It’s a similar situation over at The Wylder in downtown Boise. Owner David Rex told KTVB business is going well.
“We're like 90 percent of revenue we were doing last year,” Rex said.
They've upped the takeout part of their business to help out but have also spaced out tables and moved some outside.
It was important for Rex to make lasting changes.
“I think we're in a good position to do that,” he said. “It seems like this is going to be around for a while.”
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Limiting capacity, spacing out tables, and requiring employees to wear masks are just some of the state protocols recommended for restaurants.
However, no one is enforcing those protocols if a restaurant isn’t following them.
“There's no punishments or anything, it’s very educational,” said Tyler Jordan, an environmental health specialist with Central District Health.
However, Jordan says a lack of enforcement hasn’t been a problem for the businesses he’s inspected.
“I have not seen or heard anything about that, that no one is taking any precautions whatsoever,” he said. “From what I can tell, everyone’s doing a very good job and being diligent about everything and trying to take extra precautions."
Central District Health is still sending its health inspectors out to restaurants to ensure food establishments are complying with Idaho food code.
That includes things like taking temperatures of food and overall cleanliness but enforcing the state protocols is not part of their job.
Instead, when doing an inspection, Jordan will discuss the state protocols with the business and answer any questions they may have.
“We do discuss it, but not necessarily are we really enforcing certain things,” he said.
Zora told KTVB about an incident when the health district helped them out. After creating a plan to implement state protocols, staff at 13th Street Pub and Grill noticed there was one area of the restaurant where social distancing wasn’t possible.
“It created sort of a clogging point where people had to pass each other, and people had to be in contact with it,” Zora said.
So, management reached out to the health district to let them know they wanted to change it.
“Them being able to say yes, make the changes that will make your neighbors safer and make those changes and let us know how those changes are,” he said. “So, we've been able to work really closely with them with different questions and different concerns, they've been a phenomenal resource to be able to reach back to.”
A health district spokesperson told KTVB the state protocols aren’t being enforced because there are no public health police. Instead, if a customer walks into a restaurant and doesn’t feel comfortable, they should leave and go somewhere where they do feel comfortable.
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