Denver Restaurant Owners Unsure Of When They Will Reopen Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

DENVER (CBS4) - Denver's 'stay-at-home' order will lift on Friday, but Mayor Michael Hancock said restaurants and bars will remain closed. This has restaurant owners wondering how to prepare for an eventual reopening.

"It's sustainable for now but not for much longer," said Christine Parisi, the owner of Parisi. "We're down to about 20% of normal sales."

For seven weeks, restaurant dining rooms have been closed to the public. Parisi said she's planning for the day when they can fully reopen, but it's tough, with no opening date.

"At least up 'till now I feel like we've had a date to work towards, but anything beyond that with a big question mark, will be of concern," said Parisi.

Parisi told CBS4 that the restaurant will be installing partitions between booths, adding one-way traffic through the restaurant along with other social distancing measures to prepare for reopening.

"I feel like it's going to be very gradual, and that's how we're going to prepare with purchasing and our staffing," Parisi said. "Because we have to bring people back on and that's a whole another process."

Park Burger in RiNo is also looking toward innovative changes to the dining experience, expecting the impacts of COVID-19 to last an entire year.

"We truly believe that the restaurant industry is going to temporarily change," said Peter Newlin, the owner of Park Burger and Bird Call. "I've just been using the last couple of weeks to just have really amazing conversations."

For now, they've transformed their empty dining room into a commissary kitchen to help feed thousands of front line workers. They've teamed up with the Tuchman Family Foundation for Fuel Denver Frontline, providing more than 5,000 health care heroes.

"It's been a project of passion and love for our employees," Newlin said. "It's also allowed us to hire 25 employees back. And now we need to focus not only on frontline workers but the food insecurity."

Newlin said while they participate in that project, they're looking at ways to minimize touch and improve the health and safety of in-dining experience amid COVID-19.

"There is no reality in which a traditional full-service experience can take place with social distancing," Newlin said. "So one of the things we're going to be doing is pivoting to new experiences."