Restaurants open inside in Santa Cruz for first time in months
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) It's been several months since restaurants were allowed to have customers dine inside in Santa Cruz County. The county was placed in the state's "red tier," which is less restrictive.
It means that personal care services, fitness centers and restaurants can open indoors with modifications.
Restaurants can open inside immediately at 25% capacity.
Many restaurants in downtown Santa Cruz have spent the last few months improving their outdoor dining.
“You make this adjustment and then you start going along for a while you and catch your breathe. You say 'we’re doing okay, this is working', and then another change comes,” owner of Hula's Island Grill Ian McRae said.
“Once you get used to one system it’s time to re-invent yourself,” owner of Zachary's Restaurant Tom Watson said.
Zachary’s, which is open for breakfast and lunch is able to do about half the business they’re used to with its outdoor seating area. On Thursday, the plan is to open the now deserted indoor dining room at the maximum 25% capacity.
“Of course the question is, is there a capacity worth of business out there? How many people are going to want to dine indoors?” Watson said.
Hula’s is shooting to open 10 tables indoors in time for the weekend rush.
“Right now we’ve been on a bit of a wait here [on weekends] an hour or an hour and 10 minutes. And we have to close down a little earlier out here," McRae said.
At the same time, the plan is to keep the new outdoor seating on Cathcart street.
“Let’s leave it this way. This is like an outdoor European village,” McRae said.
However, Santa Cruz Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel says this less restrictive phase may be short lived. Local health experts predict there will be another wave, because of the recent evacuations cause by the CZU August Lightning Complex fires that led to lots of mixing of households.
“It could be a long time until we’re in the red again, so this is a sweet spot,” Newel said.
Santa Cruz will be re-evaluated again in two weeks to determine if the county will move to a different tier.
