Some Beaufort Co. restaurateurs will stay at half-capacity despite new rules. Here’s why
Although South Carolina’s restaurants can now open at full capacity, don’t expect all of the Lowcountry’s restaurants to offer more tables this fall. Some restaurant owners say the risk of COVID-19 transmission at full capacity is too high to warrant making the change, especially if they have ample outdoor space.
Still, the end of occupancy restraints could be a saving grace for some restaurants that offer minimal outdoor seating.
On Friday, Gov. Henry McMaster ended the restaurant occupancy limits he had put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Previously, restaurants could operate at no more than half their capacity. Now, they are allowed to open completely.
Under the order, patrons and employees are still required to wear masks, and restaurants still cannot serve alcohol past 11 p.m. Some restrictions previously in place have been lifted but are still recommended, including spacing indoor and outdoor seating six feet apart and limiting tables to eight people (families are the exception).
The Island Packet spoke to several restaurant owners after the order was announced about their plans, and all said they did not feel comfortable moving to full capacity because of COVID-19 concerns, and because many patrons choose to sit outdoors anyway.
Nick Borreggine, owner of Fat Pattie’s in Bluffton and Beaufort, is among those who will still operate with restrictions.
“It seems like everything we’ve done up until this point would be obsolete to just go and open to 100%,” Borreggine said. “All the pain and everything we’ve gone through up until this moment just seems like it is going to get washed out the window. ... Lifting the capacity would have helped us in the summer, but going into this time of the year, lifting the capacity is not going to help our bottom line.”
Andrew Carmines, who owns Hudson’s on the Docks on Hilton Head Island, is not moving his restaurant to full capacity, worried about the health risks a full reopening could present to employees.
“We’ve seen what the lack of social distancing does,” Carmines said. “Back in June, it was not pretty around here.”
Both Carmines and Margaret Pearman, who owns Charlie’s L’Etoile Verte on Hilton Head Island, said they didn’t think moving to 100% capacity would be OK with their customers.
“Right now, even with indoor seating, nobody wants to sit in there, even with the tables eight feet apart,” Carmines said. “At night, I’d say 95% of our [business] is taking place outside right now. ... We had a two-hour wait for outside with five tables open inside ... Our customers dictate to us what it is that we can and can’t do, to some extent.”
Pearman, whose restaurant is staying at 50%, said she received 20 calls from customers Monday expressing concerns about the new occupancy permissions.
“They’re not ready,” Pearman said. “We started out, when we reopened, trying to do the most for them, and we’re still trying to take all those extra steps.”
Some restaurants in the area are moving ahead with full reopening, however: R Bar in Bluffton posted on Facebook Saturday that they were back at 100% and excited to see their patrons.
“There’s tons of places right now [that] have not had the benefit of having as much outdoor seating as we’ve had,” Carmines said. “We talk about how grateful we are as a staff every day, because there are a lot of places in the United States, and even in South Carolina, that are not having the same experience that we’re having.”
