The Next Pandemic Shortage? Outdoor Heaters

Game of Thrones fans know well the expression “Winter is Coming.” But for restaurant owners who have scrambled to save their businesses by creating outdoor dining areas, the well-known idiom is particularly chilling. Many of our clients who have counted on warm summer evenings to bring in customers need to create comfy outdoor seating arrangements that will work during winter. Certainly, curbside pick-up and Al fresco dining is here to stay, and Door Dash, Grub Hub, Postmates and Uber Eats have all been on the front lines delivering food and assisting our restaurants. But relying on app-based programs and curbside won’t turn a profit. We need creative ways to attract customers to the restaurants while making them feel safe.

“But many New York restaurants are leading the way into winter by building heated inflatable rooms called ‘space bubbles.’”

New York has lost thousands of restaurants, a recent survey showing 90% unable to pay rent in August. But many New York restaurants are leading the way into winter by building heated inflatable rooms called “space bubbles.” Other Big Apple eateries have built outdoor structures with garage door roll-ups that can come down when the cold weather comes. Each room is built with surrounding infrared heaters, creating the newest pandemic shortage: outdoor heaters. The colder snowy communities are about to bring their outdoor dining rooms inside with government restrictions loosening, but at 25 percent capacity for in-door dining merchants will not be profitable. So, here are some thoughts on making restaurants Winter Wonderlands.

Ideas to stay outside and be safe:

Replace metal outdoor furniture with tables and chairs made from materials that feel warmer to the touch
Add greenery and shrubbery to not only help provide physical distance between tables but to also serve as a shield from wind whipping in off the water
Offer blankets that are laundered between each use
Change menus to include warm fall/winter stews and soups and cocktails based on warm cider or coffee
Add fire pits, heaters and roofs/coverings that can handle snow and rain

In Washington, D.C., Southern Mexican restaurant Espita worked with its designer to add an awning as well as two glass panels to its patio seating. Before the pandemic, the restaurant could use drop-down plastic walls to fully enclose the area, effectively doubling the size of its operation.

Restaurants are all getting creative with landlord’s approvals and many have already put in thousands of dollars to purchase the necessary refurbishments. Let’s all pray for a mild, winter, but remember it is 2020-- who knows what winter may bring.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Restaurants Business Magazine, SCT News