On Thursday, Mississippi restaurants were allowed to open their dining rooms to customers for the first time since Gov. Tate Reeves announced a statewide order limiting service to carry-out and delivery on April 3.
While many, perhaps most, restaurants in Starkville and Columbus didn’t open their dining rooms Thursday, those who did generally took a low-key, cautious approach.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” said Mark Welch, owner of 1883 Steakhouse on Highway 12 in Starkville.
“It’s pretty quiet so far,” said a restaurant manager just down the road at Newk’s Eatery.
There was one exception, though.
At the front of Starkville Cafe on Main Street, Bill Cook played guitar and sang while restaurant owner John Peeples manned a fryer, preparing catfish meals given away to the city’s first responders. Clark Beverage provided an event tent and provided free drinks to accompany the meals.
A firetruck blocked one lane as workers distributed the lunches to firefighters, police officers and health care workers.
“Really, it’s for anyone who identified as a first responder,” Peeples said.
Peeples said he had planned the event two weeks ago, long before the governor relaxed the restriction on dining-room service.
“It was just a coincidence that it happened on the same day,” Peeples said. “But Main Street has been so slow and quiet these past six or seven weeks, we just felt like we should do something. I think everybody needed a little lift.”
The festive spirit moved inside the restaurant, where customers occupied five or six tables. None of the patrons were more excited than Tammy LaGrane.
“I drove 270 miles to eat here,” she said, laughing.
LaGrane, a 1984 graduate of Mississippi State, arrived from her home in Monroe, Louisiana, to help her son, Brian, pack up his belongings. Brian just completed his master’s degree in electrical/computer engineering.
In Louisiana, restaurant dining rooms have been closed since March 23, she said.
“Really, I had planned to pick up an omelet for Brian, but when I saw (the dining room) was open, I just had to come in,” she said. “I was so excited.”
LaGrane said she never hesitated, even as the COVID-19 virus continues to be a threat to public health.
“I do have my mask,” she said. “I am going to wash my hands when I get ready to leave. But you know what? Too many people are living in fear right now. My philosophy is be cautious, be safe, but we have to have some faith in Starkville Cafe and the restaurant owners. When I realized I could come in, it was ‘Touchdown!'”
Welch, who opened 1883 Steakhouse two years ago, couldn’t overstate the importance of being allowed to open his dining room again. Since April 3, he’s relied on carry-out and delivery service, but watched as his sales declined by 63 percent.
“It means maybe we’re going to make it,” Welch said. “We know a lot of people aren’t going to come back right now, especially your elderly people who are still a little scared. But we decided to open and see what happens. The turnout is better than I expected, to be honest.”
John and Angel Cole were among the first customers to arrive at the steakhouse Thursday.
“It feels great,” John Cole said. “We probably hadn’t eaten out in what, six, seven weeks?”
Angel Cole was no less excited.
“And I’m one of those people who are compromised,” Angel Cole said. “I have asthma and diabetes, but I just wanted to get out.”
A more cautious approach in Columbus
As restaurants in Starkville began to open — with others set to open today — the approach among Columbus restaurateurs has been more guarded, with most planning to wait until next week to resume dining room service.
Zachary’s owner Doug Pellum, who was the first restaurant owner to shut down on March 20, resumed carry-out service on Tuesday, but he’s waiting through the weekend before making a decision about when to open his dining room.
“The safety of our customers and employees has been the basis of our decisions,” Pellum said. “Georgia and Florida opened their dining rooms two weeks ago. I want to see what the numbers look like over the weekend to see if there’s a spike in (coronavirus) cases. I’ll be looking at the Mississippi cases over the weekend, too. The bottom line is that we won’t open until we can be sure our employees and customers are safe.”
Steve Pyle, who along with his brother, Jeff, bought Cafe on Main in January, said he’s looking to open the restaurant’s dining room sometime next week.
“The governor is going to have another update on his order on Monday, so we decided to wait to see what he has to say then,” Steve Pyle said. “If the cases should spike, he might change the rules again. The one thing we didn’t want to do is open up then have to shut down again.”
Steve said he was initially considering opening the dining room for Mother’s Day on Sunday.
“Sundays are a really big day for us,” he said. “We’ll serve over 300 meals on Sundays. It would have been great to be open for Mother’s Day. I was leaning that way, but Jeff was leaning the other. When we talked it over, we came to the decision that it was better to wait.”
Peeples said traffic at his cafe was “kind of slow” Thursday, which didn’t surprise him.
He said he knows a lot of people are still fearful of returning.
“We had a staff meeting (Wednesday) and told our staff that we absolutely have to conform to all the CDC guidelines,” he said. “I told them that was the only way we were going to be able to do this. People need to know it’s safe.”
Although he gave away more food that he sold Thursday, Peeples said he was pleased.
“I had a customer tell me, ‘You know, this is the first time I’ve felt normal in weeks,'” Peeples said. “I think that’s something everybody needs now.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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