Bars and restaurants in Galesburg and across Illinois are preparing to open their doors to guests for the first time since March this Friday.
Adam Vitale is President of G&M Distributors and the head of a task force of Galesburg restaurants that was formed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vitale doesn’t know of any local restaurants that won’t be able to reopen in Phase 4, but he is aware of some in the extended area that G&M serves that still don’t see it as financially worth it to reopen with capacity limits.
Guidelines released Monday from the Pritzker administration require that tables be six feet apart, parties be no larger than 10 people, and standing areas will be at 25 percent of normal capacity.
“Several bar owners and restaurant owners have taken this opportunity to paint, do a deep cleaning or to change things up, so it’s kind of nice to go back and see a refreshed space as well,” Vitale says.
With all the time off Vitale says you can also expect beer to be extra fresh, particularly draft beer.
Establishment owners have cleaned their lines, got fresh kegs, and bottles rotated.
Alcohol sales are a huge chunk of many restaurants business, and Vitale says that restaurants will be glad to get some of that missed revenue back.
He also says you can help out restaurants by calling ahead and making a reservation since businesses will be working with less capacity than normal.
Highlighting the requirement that all patrons wear masks except when at their tables, he urges the public to wear their mask and not put the host or server in an awkward position.
