Some restaurants in no rush to resume dine-in service
With capacity restricted, the smallest restaurants say it’s not feasible to reopen. Others are proceeding cautiously and changing how they’ll operate.
Restaurants
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Gary Brackett closes Stacked Pickle sports bar chain
Stacked Pickle lists 10 locations on its website—nine in Indiana and one in Dayton.
Shake Shack pauses expansion, putting Fishers project on back burner
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.
Fishers brewpub joins surge in eateries permanently closing doors
The locally owned eatery and craft brewery opened in late 2014 in the former location of Blue Crew Sports Grill.
North-side steakhouse closes permanently, citing ‘impending expiration’ of lease
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.
Steak n Shake outlook goes from bad to much worse
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.
Reopened restaurants revealing dining’s ‘new normal’
Waiters wearing plastic gloves and masks. Disposable menus. Family-only tables. Booth dividers. Eateries in several states are reopening under heavy restrictions.
Broad Ripple’s Brugge restaurant closes permanently
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.”
Patachou cooking up burger-and-fries concept while ramping up carryout for existing eateries
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.
IBJ Podcast: What will restaurants, offices look like after economy reopens?
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.
Restaurants will be anything but cozy when diners return
Restaurateurs say protective measures and uncertainty about the lingering pandemic might chill the influx in revenue the industry is hoping for once restaurants are allowed to resume dine-in service.
Pearl Street Pizzeria, Pure Eatery sue insurer over COVID-19 claim denial
The suit, filed earlier this month, alleges that Wisconsin-based Society Insurance rushed to deny the restaurants’ claims for COVID-19-related business losses without properly investigating the claims.
Chipotle agrees to record $25 million fine over tainted food
The company admitted that poor safety practices, such as not keeping food at proper temperatures to prevent pathogen growth, sickened more than 1,100 customers nationally from 2015 to 2018.
Indiana restaurants anticipate nearly $1B in sales declines for April
About 91% of Indiana restaurant operators said they have had to either furlough or lay off workers since the COVID-19 outbreak began, with at least 15% anticipating they’ll have to take additional action in the next 30 days.
Coronavirus restrictions delay local retail openings
Most business owners say they’ll be ready to open as soon as—or shortly after—coronavirus-related restrictions are lifted.
Chicago-style pizza chain Lou Malnati’s adding Broad Ripple, Carmel sites
Beloved in the Chicagoland area, the deep-dish chain confirmed to IBJ in March that it planned to enter the central Indiana market with several locations.
U.S. restaurants turn to grocery sales to help offset losses
Stay-at-home and social distancing orders have put restaurant dining on hold, forcing many to close and leaving others barely surviving. Some are looking for new ways to generate revenue.
Carryout just isn’t cutting it for many local restaurants
Some local restaurants trying to stay afloat without dine-in service report sales have plunged by two-thirds or more, raising questions about how much longer they’ll be able to survive.
Liz Biro leaves Indianapolis Star after six years on restaurant beat
In a column, Biro said her final day at the Star was Friday, and she left her job so she could move “back closer” to “her East Coast family.”
Here’s how nine small businesses are coping with coronavirus
We check in with firms of all stripes to learn how they’re seeking to persevere—and how some are plotting to gain a competitive advantage when normalcy returns.