SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. – Governor Gavin Newsom has rolled out plans to reopen the state in phases. Currently, we are entering into stage 2, which focuses on lower risk businesses like retail stores that can open their doors for pickup only starting May 8.
It is still unclear when restaurants will be allowed to welcome customers to dine in again and what mandates they will need to follow. But one California restaurant group is already implementing a comprehensive plan to reopen safely when given the green light.
Cleaning computers after every use is the new normal at El Torito. Senior General Manager of the Sherman Oaks location, Marta Gamboa, has been leading her team through the various changes during the pandemic.
“It’s been a big challenge on us, just to see it go from a full restaurant to no guests in our restaurants. It has been hard for us, but it made us stronger,” said Gamboa.
It made the team stronger to now transition into the next phase: from takeout and delivery only, to hopefully soon allowing guests to dine in once again.
Xperience Restaurant Group, owner of El Torito locations, along with Chevys, Las Brisas, and others has implemented a comprehensive plan for reopening. While they do not know what the government mandates will be, they are still preparing their businesses and employees.
“This time we are going 100 percent to make sure our guests are safe and our employees when they are ready to come back,” said Gamboa.
Employees’ temperatures will be taken before each shift. They will also sanitize their hands before each use of computer screens. Restaurants will also only have one host in the front of house using that phone and computer.
The restaurant group is aware capacity will be decreased, so they have a plan to remove tables and chairs. They will also tell customers to wait in their cars to receive a call when their table is ready.
“We have really big restaurants, so it will be easy for us to move tables around and just keep our guests apart, 6 feet apart. It won’t be a big deal for us,” said Gamboa.
The CEO of Xperience Restaurant Group, Randy Sharpe, tells us that reducing the number of guests allowed inside will ultimately hurt restaurants. He said, “I believe restaurants will be able to survive for a short period of time with a reduced capacity, but smaller dining rooms will struggle more because that means even less people. If this is continued for a long time, restaurants will start to fail.”
Items like salt, pepper, and menus will not be left on tables. Menus may change altogether to paper only options. Gamboa says they are taking every necessary step to make customers feel comfortable coming back to dine in.
“They should not be scared we are taking a lot of action on this,” said Gamboa.
Each employee will have at least five days of training to learn these new guidelines. Gamboa feels they will be prepared to open their doors and welcome the community.
“I definitely want them to feel like they are back at home. We want to make it right for them. We want to make it unforgettable. I know it’s been hard for everyone to stay home, so as soon as we are open we are ready for them,” said Gamboa.
El Torito is ready, but they still have to wait and see when they can safely re-open.