MIWLAUKEE— Restaurant owners are excited for relaxed COVID-19 restrictions as the number of daily cases drop across Wisconsin.
Dino’s in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood reopened in December. The restaurant closed in 2019, and a new owner took over in 2021.
Michael Brumm, the owner, said although it was rough at the beginning, he believes brighter days are ahead.
“It’s great that the pandemic is possibly coming to a close. It’s great that the restrictions are off,” said Brumm.
Zac Bopp is one of the chefs at Dino’s
He said there has definitely been a shift on how customers are getting their food during this stage of the pandemic.
“It’s definitely been a lot busier so I worked pretty much all through the pandemic except for the small shut down we had. It was slow. People were not going out. It was largely to-go, very much so. We have really seen a shift since the restrictions dropped. We are not seeing that large influx of to-go as majority is in-house. People are coming out,” Bopp said.
For Brumm, the biggest challenge has been getting the word out that Dino’s is back, after being closed for most of the pandemic.
“We are social creatures and we need to be around people and this is a great place to gather with friends and family. Everyone is starving to get out and go back to normal— the normal life of two years ago. I’m not sure it will ever be normal again,” said Brumm.
Despite the struggle, Brumm said he'd rather deal with the "problem" of marketing than increased COVID-19 restrictions.