Is outdoor dining a new normal? Restaurants grapple with heat, smoke and coronavirus

In a normal year, Cresco Restaurant Equipment & Supply Co. wouldn’t sell its first patio heater until November. But this year, despite summer’s sweltering weather, the company already sold patio heating systems to four or five restaurants in August, said Cresco manager Addison Williams.

Restaurant owners are “planning on the fact that they may be doing this outdoor seating for a while,” Williams said. “But they’re trying to find the best bang for their buck.”

With many restaurants strapped for cash but with no clear end date in sight for the ban on indoor service, owners are taking chances on purchasing items to entice outdoor diners. Indoor dining has been prohibited since California Gov. Gavin Newsom mandated a second wave of closures at the start of July. As a result, restaurants are seeking out cool water misting devices for now and patio heaters for later.

Chris Jarosz, who owns Broderick Roadhouse in midtown, said about half of the burger restaurant’s business comes from takeout and delivery right now and the other half comes from outdoor dining. He anticipates losing a significant portion of revenue once cold temperatures and rain arrive, he said.

“Awnings and heat lamps are what we’re going to have to do,” Jarosz said. “We couldn’t just sustain ourselves on takeout and delivery.”

Derar Zawaydeh, part-owner of Burgers & Brewhouse, has thought about what type of heaters and tent-like coverings will work for his restaurant, which depends on outdoor dining for about 60% of its business and takeout for 40% on average, he said.

Zawaydeh said customers might be most comfortable in a fully enclosed tent that would trap heat, but a health inspector told him “patios” must have openings on opposite sides to allow for airflow.

Heatwave and fires create struggles

An intense mid-August heatwave coupled with hundreds of wildfires across California and dangerous outdoor air quality deterred diners last week. As of Monday, the Air Quality Index in Sacramento remained in the “unhealthy” range as a result of smoke drifting across Northern California from the fires.

Zawaydeh said he saw as much as a 70% decline in business when the air quality worsened. “It’s kind of a limbo,” he said. “You can sit on the patio, but the patio was not usable based on the air quality.”

The heat had already made it difficult to operate.

“It’s been coming in waves,” Jarosz said of business. “With the heat it’s been really tough. I mean, in a comfort food restaurant like ours, who wants to eat a cheeseburger on a 110 degree day? I couldn’t do it myself.”

Yet restaurants are trying to adapt by adding shade and other cooling strategies. Williams, the Cresco manager, said many people have asked recently about fans, mist devices and awnings, although his company does not offer those items.

Burgers & Brewhouse already had mist devices on its patio before the pandemic, but Zawaydeh said “their importance became quadrupled” with the heatwave and with indoor service not allowed.

Sara Arbabian, who owns The Rind, said she was glad to be able to expand the wine and cheese bar’s patio space, but business has still slowed.

In uncertain times, businesses must make a wager on whether money spent on more outdoor gear will pay for itself. Sharokina Shams, vice president of public affairs at the California Restaurant Association, said no one knows exactly how policies governing restaurant operations may change in the coming months. And both patio equipment and other changes to business models cost money.

“I get the plight of the governing bodies that have to determine what is a safe operating procedure for everybody,” Jarosz said, “but I don’t know if they truly understand the dynamic that a business has when you’re hanging on by a thread and then it’s close, open, close, open.”

“The thing that would help restaurants most right now is massive amounts of relief from the federal government,” Shams said, noting that even if the weather improves, pandemic conditions are likely to limit the flow of customers.

“It would be really good if there was more government aid to help us pay for labor,” said Arbabian, who received a PPP loan that has since run out.

She said she hoped people who can dine out will do so in order to support businesses at this point.

“It’s not just restaurants. We’re talking about vendors and producers and farmers,” Arbabian said.