NEW ORLEANS — It was a little after noon at Katie’s in Mid-City Monday and it was about the time owner Scot Craig would expect to see huge crowds for the lunch rush. But at Iberville and North Telemachus streets, business has almost come to a complete stop.
“There would be people right here waiting to get in,” Craig said while sitting outside of the door of his restaurant. “It’s quite different.”
Craig expects it to be different for him and every other restaurant owner once they can open their doors again. He spent the morning meeting with a contractor to discuss adding in plexiglass dividers between tables when he can welcome customers again.
“We’re trying to make the best use of space,” he said, “so we just came up with some ideas and we have to lay out the tables today. We have to see exactly where we’re going to put them.” He knows there will be fewer than the 130 seats he used to have. “I’m hoping to get 60 or 70,” he said.
Which means another stark reality for his staff. “We’re not going to be able to bring everyone back,” he said. And for those who are able to return to work, they’ll hand out menus that are used once and then thrown away.
RELATED: 'Don't give up on Daniel' - Popular Clancy's Maître D in a life and death battle with coronavirus
“Before the actual shutdown, we were spraying menus down before we gave them to anybody,” Craig said.
He said that he also expects more restaurants to provide their own delivery, a service he said isn’t as expensive as he once thought.
“This is a day-to-day thing. And it just seems like every day there’s a different challenge,” Craig said. But he added that he’s hopeful. “I think we’ll have a line again,” he said. “But it’s going to be less people inside.”