JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Walking around his restaurant, Gregory Pratt, the owner of Sneakers Sports Grille in Jacksonville Beach pointed out all of the changes he and his staff have made.
“Our plan will be to greet guests out here and make sure they space out on the sidewalk,” he said showing the hostess stand moved outside.
They will also start checking every customer and employees’ temperatures. According to Pratt, they’ve cut down seating on the patio from 250 seats to 50 seats. The dining room that can seat up to 600 people, will only seat 100 when the dining room reopens.
“We took some table decorations that we had in the back and we moved them around the restaurant making sure that no table is within 10 feet of another table,” Pratt said.
Each table customers are able to sit at has that decoration and is 10 feet from the next. Tables that are clean have a sign standing up. If it is laying down, Pratt said that will signify that table needs to be sanitized.
“At this point, we’re just happy to have an opportunity to work,” Pratt said.
Pratt cut his capacity to fall under Governor Ron DeSantis’ rules for reopening restaurants, open at 25 percent capacity starting Monday. Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said Wednesday night he and his administration will review the governor’s plan and make sure local orders follow the state’s plan to reopen.
“My first reaction was to get with my staff and make sure everybody is ready to go start getting the restaurant set up,” Pratt said when he heard the governor’s plan.
Pratt said he will reopen his dining room because he can’t afford to just continue carryout. Since they started carryout, Pratt said they’ve made just enough to make payroll.
“We have families to feed and sooner or later, hiding in our houses from the Coronavirus makes it hard to feed our families. We have to take care of our financial health as well,” he said.
All employees will also wear masks and gloves. The staff has also added four sanitizing stations around the restaurant, and Pratt said the staff will be working in teams so while one person is waiting on a customer, the other is thoroughly sanitizing.
“People may not get as many hours as they used to … we’ll make sure everyone has some money so everyone can start paying their bills,” he said.
Pratt said he’s not sure how many customers will come when he reopens his dining room, but is playing it by ear.
"I think it’ll be just like opening a new business. We’ll have to relearn how to do it,” he said.
Pratt isn’t making it mandatory for customers to wear masks, but the staff will be passing out gloves to customers if they want to wear them.