ENCINITAS — For now, local Encinitas restaurants are officially open for the summer.
During Memorial Day weekend, restaurant owners opened their doors to dine-in customers after county health officials unexpectedly loosened restrictions on May 21.
Adjusting their physical layouts, staffing schedules, disinfection and sanitization procedures and waste removal, among other things, restaurant owners scrambled to fully reopen almost a month earlier than was originally expected.
Darrin Campbell, owner and operator of Le Papagayo in Leucadia and Beachside Bar and Grill in Encinitas, opened Le Papagayo for dine-in customers during the holiday weekend.
“We knew right away that it was going to be hard but that we could make an effort to open by Friday night,” Campbell said. “We had 48 hours to finalize all the proper safety protocols and equipment, to redesign the floor plan and pull it all together.”
If people had lingering fears over the safety of eating in public places, Campbell said they weren’t present in his restaurant.
“The response has been absolutely phenomenal,” Campbell said. “I haven’t received one complaint.”
Le Papagayo enjoyed a busy weekend, Campbell said, after implementing voluntary temperature checks at the door, socially distanced dining tables and keeping a manager on-site to supervise sanitation procedures and maintain crowd control.
Leucadia Pizzeria also opened its doors over Memorial Day weekend for walk-in customers only.
Alex Valencia, manager of the pizza chain’s Encinitas location, said he was excited to see the restaurant open for business again.
“We’ve been really busy with delivery and pickup throughout coronavirus, so this was great,” Valencia said. “We were really fortunate not to be closed down this entire time, so it wasn’t too difficult to just open up the dining room.”
For Leucadia Pizzeria, the greatest challenge in allowing dining room service was the customers.
“The greatest obstacle was getting customers to come in and be respectful of each other’s space,” Valencia said. “Everyone has to wear a mask when they come in and dine. They keep it on until they sit down at their tables to eat but when they get up to use the restroom or to leave they have to put it back on. It was good for the public that wanted to get out of their homes and the employees who want their old jobs.”
While the county opened restaurants ahead of its original timetable, it remains unknown whether the industry’s early return will be enough to save struggling restaurants.
“Whether your restaurant survives is going to come down to your floor plan and your business model,” Campbell said. “A lot of restaurants did really well when they went to take-out but not everyone.”
With dining tables spaced 6 feet apart per social distancing requirements, restaurants in smaller spaces will only be able to serve a small number of dine-in customers at any given time, whereas physically larger restaurants can serve more.
“There’s a ton of factors at play,” Campbell said. “Based on a restaurant’s square footage, as well as rent and what is financially required to make ends meet, some businesses may have trouble surviving.”
Lingering fears of the virus aside, dozens of residents could also be seen dining outside at popular Leucadia establishments, such as Pannikin Coffee and Tea, relaxing with their families and friends in a sight unseen since before coronavirus.
During Mayor Catherine Blakespear’s weekly Facebook Live on Saturday, a resident asked, “Should we see a resurgence of (coronavirus) cases in Encinitas, what is your plan of action? Could Encinitas go back to Phase 1 if you felt we had to, even if the county would stay at Stage 2?”
Blakespear answered, “The City of Encinitas is following the county health directives and I don’t foresee that our cases would be different from other surrounding [cities.]”
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