Chicago will allow bars and restaurants to boost indoor capacity to 50% and remain open until 1 a.m. in the latest move from Mayor Lori Lightfoot to ease COVID-19 restrictions and help businesses.
The indoor dining limit, which takes effect immediately, will now be 50% capacity or 50 people, whichever is fewer. Lightfoot also will allow liquor stores to sell alcohol until 11 p.m. and boost the number of people allowed at indoor fitness classes to 20, the city said.
“Because people are still adhering to the public health guidance, it makes all the difference in the world,” Lightfoot said in a news conference announcing the changes. “Thanks to your efforts, we are one step closer to putting this pandemic in our rearview mirror.”
Bars that want to serve alcohol indoors must either serve food or partner with a restaurant or business that provides food to its patrons. Tables are capped at six customers for both indoor and outdoor dining and must be spread out with 6 feet of distance between parties. Diners must keep masks on except when eating or drinking.
In recent weeks, the city has touted decreases in caseloads to support lowering restrictions on local businesses.
The indoor dining expansion was “another step in the right direction” to Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association. But Toia said he believes the city and state can offer more to his industry. He wants the cap for private gatherings in Illinois to go up from 50 people to 150 as spring approaches and weddings, communions, bar mitzvahs and other events might happen.
Toia also said restaurant workers deserve to be in the current phase of vaccination in Chicago and Illinois, which includes front-line essential workers and people 65 or older. Adults with existing health conditions also are eligible to get vaccinated in certain parts of the state, but not the city.
“We feel that our employees are crucial components of the food supply chain and an integral part of the state’s infrastructure,” Toia said. “They’re as essential workers just like grocery store workers are, so we would like to see that.”
Toia said his group has lobbied Gov. J.B. Pritzker to bump restaurant workers up in the vaccine line. He said in response, Pritzker’s staffers said they would consider the move should they get more vaccine supply.
“They didn’t shut us down, but they didn’t give us the green light,” Toia said.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Asked about restaurateurs who want the capacity limit lifted, Lightfoot said she understands their desire as it’s been “a horrendous year for restaurants and bars.”
But, Lightfoot said, she’s watched other places open quickly with high percentages and it’s frequently led to more closings.
“I’d rather be slow and steady and continue to be open than throw open the gates to appease a certain segment then see our cases explode … and have to shut it down for a third time,” Lightfoot said. “I don’t want to do that.”
Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady added that the city is not considering revising its vaccine eligibility criteria for restaurant workers.
Kinzie Chophouse has been welcoming guests back in limited capacities since it was allowed to do so.
Owner Nicole Flevaris said the continued loosening of restrictions will help the River North restaurant take better advantage of the larger crowds as the weather warms. Flevaris said she has seen older guests “dressed to the nines” as they receive their vaccinations and enjoy their first chance to dine out in months.
“One man was very excited,” she noted. “He said, ‘I want a big glass of wine, and I want to sit at the bar.'”
While she expressed optimism and a bit of measured relief, she repeatedly emphasized the importance of continued safety measures.
“We know that masks work. We have to make sure that, from the client perspective, they realize that this is a two-way street,” she said. “We can stay open, and the numbers keep going in the right direction, because we’re all following the rules.”
Even as the threat of COVID-19 begins to wane, Flevaris said some of its effects on dining operations will linger.
“With the tables being 6 feet apart, that’s OK. I think this is going to be (the) new normal,” she said. “I was looking at old pictures of the restaurant, when there were more tables in it, and it just looked so odd to me.”
Nevertheless, Genie Kwon and Tim Flores will not be opening Kasama for indoor dining, despite the later hours and increased capacity. In fact, the critically acclaimed chefs and owners have not had any indoor dining at their Filipino-inspired restaurant and bakery since opening last July in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood.
“We’ve been holding off on that just because we are short staffed for what we would need to function as a restaurant that serves full service inside, even if there is limited capacity,” Kwon said. “It’s kind of a Catch-22 for us. Does the loss of revenue offset what it would take for us to hire on more staff? And does that put them at risk? Do we shut down for a few weeks if someone got sick with COVID? For us it’s about keeping our staff as safe as we can and to keep everyone employed.”
They have 12 employees right now, Flores said. “We’ve had them since we’ve been open and we have not had to close, because of somebody getting sick or anything like that. We’ve been very cautious.”
“We’re going to wait for our employees to get vaccinated,” said Kwon.
Dave Jemilo, owner of the Green Mill in Chicago, said the previous 11 p.m. cap on serving alcohol was especially difficult for bars because “things usually just get rolling around then.”
The historic jazz club and cocktail lounge in the Uptown neighborhood just reopened for indoor service last Friday. Only three people currently work seven days a week, including Jemilo, a server and a bartender. The later hours means he may hire back a barback.
“The staff that’s working are really happy, because they’re actually making some dough, and people have been real generous,” Jemilo said. “And the audience response to the band has been like they’ve been in prison and they just got out. They’re listening to live music in a joint, and they’re like almost screaming, they’re so happy.”
The indoor dining relaxations do not mean businesses and patrons should start being lax about the coronavirus, Rosa Escareno, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, said Tuesday. And so far, there has been widespread compliance, she added, with 8,700 investigations conducted over the past year and just 5% of them resulting in citations.
“I do want to make sure that our rush to reopen does not endanger any good progress that we’ve made,” Escareno said. “As all of you know, the painful indoor dining closings that we did just last fall is still just very, very present in our mind.”
