Restaurants adjust to get through winter weather and the pandemic uncertainty that lies ahead

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    PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — Between new restrictions in the two-week pause, winter weather and the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic, businesses have a lot to juggle.

And restaurants are looking to adapt both short-term and long-term, investing in tents and heaters to hopefully attract customers outside in these cold and rainy days ahead, but also thinking about what can sustain them if this two-week pause isn’t enough and at some point, there are further restrictions.

“We didn’t want to enclose it fully because we want it to allow for plenty of ventilation,” Brett West, General Manager of Caffe Mingo, said of their outdoor seating, which now has a roof and heaters. “We’re just trying to adapt and roll with the punches as they come along.”

He said they’re small enough to not have to adjust much with the current two-week pause, but he worries at the rate Oregon’s COVID-19 cases are increasing, more restrictions could eventually follow.

“I’m gonna be kinda surprised if we don’t enter some sort of lockdown at some point again this winter,” West said.

He said that’s part of the reason they have the Mercato too offering takeout and potentially things like meal kits if need be.

“We wanted to have at least one of these businesses be sort of pandemic proof,” he said. “Trying to cover all the bases with what we’ve got so that regardless of what happens, we can continue to do something.”

At Mississippi Pizza, Joanna Macrae said they’re thinking long-term too; it’s why in addition to their new tent and heaters on the way, they invested in a brand new online ordering system starting this week, something they’ve never offered before in about twenty years of business.

“We just found that we couldn’t keep up with the phones; they were just off the hook ringing over and over,” she said.

Since the pandemic, she said about 90 percent of their orders have been takeout, and they started doing home delivery.

“We all decided this was a much better investment than some other options because people are gonna want more and more delivery they’re going to want to come out less and less, especially when the weather turns and then with the shutdown, well slowdown.”

Both businesses said they’re grateful to be open and keep serving customers as best they can.

As a reminder, PBOT now has a winter healthy businesses permit program that goes through the end of March.

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