Indianapolis restaurants got a much-needed boost during the Memorial Day weekend, as in-person dining services resumed for the first time in more than two months—at least on an outdoor basis. But dining numbers paled in comparison to a year ago.
Altogether, more than 50 restaurants across the city have submitted applications to expand outdoor dining, including four on Broad Ripple Avenue and five on Illinois Street.
Patachou, which operates 12 restaurants in Indianapolis and Carmel, is among a growing number of local companies that have sued their insurers for claim denials related to COVID-19 business losses.
They are working through a multitude of logistical details as they prepare to reopen for dine-in service for the first time in more than two months. They’ll be limited to outdoor seating until July 4.
The restaurant opened in 2014. The chain also has locations in Carmel, Schererville and Valparaiso.
Marion County’s reopening plan allows restaurants to open at 50% capacity on Friday—but only if diners eat outside.
The Facebook page for the upscale restaurant lists the location as “permanently closed.” It has been removed from the company’s online list of restaurants, and its local phone number no longer works.
The northwest-side location, in the Willow Lake East shopping center, was Bravo!’s last remaining Indianapolis location. Its parent company, Florida-based FoodFirst, filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
The seller of customizable doughnuts that started in Pendleton will be joined later this year by a second store in a new Westfield retail center.
Restaurateurs didn’t know what to expect early Monday, but patrons likely will see staff members in masks, tables spread at least six feet apart and rigorous cleaning protocols.
With capacity restricted, the smallest restaurants say it’s not feasible to reopen. Others are proceeding cautiously and changing how they’ll operate.
Stacked Pickle lists 10 locations on its website—nine in Indiana and one in Dayton.
Reeling from a slowdown in sales due to the coronavirus crisis, the New York City-based burger chain says it has paused all design and construction of new eateries. The Fishers location was set to open late this year.
The locally owned eatery and craft brewery opened in late 2014 in the former location of Blue Crew Sports Grill.
The owner of the upscale eatery in the Keystone at the Crossing area made no mention of the coronavirus crisis in its announcement Friday, but in April it notified state officials that it had drastically cut the hours of 46 employees due to restrictions on dining.
Rating agencies, which already ranked Steak n Shake on the lowest rungs of their creditworthiness ladders, further sounded the alarm bells in recent weeks after Steak n Shake paid off some of its debt at a discount—something a lender never would agree to if it thought it was going to be paid in full.
Waiters wearing plastic gloves and masks. Disposable menus. Family-only tables. Booth dividers. Eateries in several states are reopening under heavy restrictions.
Co-owner Ted Miller said on Facebook that the restaurant at 1011 E. Westfield Blvd. would close as of Friday—“this location at least. We plan to open a new Brugge somewhere, sometime.”
Apocalypse Burger—a name that came to Patachou founder Martha Hoover during a recent Sunday night Zoom call with family—would be based in the former location of the chain’s Crispy Bird eatery.
There’s precious little consensus about the necessary precautions, although most decision-makers agree that we won’t get back to “normal” until there’s a vaccine.
