More businesses to open Monday May 11 - Your experiences (Madison: sales, hair salon)

[MisterEd51]

The following business types will be allowed to open on Monday with some restrictions:
restaurants, bars, barber shops, hair salons, gyms, fitness centers, etc.

What Alabama’s updated ‘safer at home’ plan means for you
Posted May 09, 8:00 AM
https://www.al.com/news/2020/05/what...s-for-you.html

Recommendations for Hair, grooming services
https://alabamapublichealth.gov/covi...se-contact.pdf

Alabama restaurants, bars can resume on-premise consumption: Here are the guidelines
Updated May 09, 11:49 AM; Posted May 09, 6:00 AM
https://www.al.com/coronavirus/2020/...uidelines.html

[RocketDawg]

I've got a haircut appointment Wednesday. But I don't think I'll be going to the gym for a while, and probably won't be sitting in a restaurant any time soon.

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

I've got a haircut appointment Wednesday. But I don't think I'll be going to the gym for a while, and probably won't be sitting in a restaurant any time soon.

Here are some gotchas:

The barber I go to is walk-in only. I don't know how they are going to handle this. Since they are closed on Monday I will drive by on Tuesday to see if I can find out anything.

Some restaurants like Golden Coral won't be able to open because buffets and salad bars are not allowed.

A lot of restaurants have self-service for soft drinks. These can't be used so all drinks have to be given out from behind the counter. I wonder if that is true for everything self service like napkins and condiments. Are those going to be kept behind the counter also?

Restaurants with small dining areas are going to find it difficult if not impossible to maintain a minimum 6-foot spacing.

I have read that the average break-even point for restaurants is about 45%. A lot of restaurants may find it hard to make money if they are limited to 50% capacity. The only way around this is to try to encourage customers to make their stay as short as possible. In theory this should increase sales. Of course if customers feel rushed they may not want to come back.

Restaurants with outside seating will need to encourage its use. That will increase the number of customers it can serve at one time.


Chick-fil-A seems to have always had good drive through business. They are probably doing better than some others right now. I wonder if they rushed to open the new location on Governors Drive to take advantage of this. I see that it opened last Thursday May 7.

[cgrab]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

Here are some gotchas:
I have read that the average break-even point for restaurants is about 45%. A lot of restaurants may find it hard to make money if they are limited to 50% capacity. The only way around this is to try to encourage customers to make their stay as short as possible. In theory this should increase sales. Of course if customers feel rushed they may not want to come back.

Many restaurants make their profits on alcohol sales and keeping customers around for the second drink may be problematic.

[cgrab]

I built a gym of sorts in my garage and workout to videos so I will be cancelling my gym membership.

[denofhc]

Restaurants can improve sales if they can get patrons to eat mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Many times the restaurants are empty at these times. Staggering hours would certainly be beneficial to commuters.

[r x f]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

Restaurants with small dining areas are going to find it difficult if not impossible to maintain a minimum 6-foot spacing.

6' isn't enough for dining indoors. I won't be dining in anytime soon.


The Risks - Know Them - Avoid Them

I have read that the average break-even point for restaurants is about 45%. A lot of restaurants may find it hard to make money if they are limited to 50% capacity. The only way around this is to try to encourage customers to make their stay as short as possible. In theory this should increase sales. Of course if customers feel rushed they may not want to come back.

Is it 50% seating capacity or 50% fire marshal capacity? If it's the latter they'll be able to go well over 50% seating capacity since today capacity includes a maxed out kitchen, maxed out servers, and full waiting area.

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by r x f

6' isn't enough for dining indoors. I won't be dining in anytime soon.


The Risks - Know Them - Avoid Them

Is it 50% seating capacity or 50% fire marshal capacity? If it's the latter they'll be able to go well over 50% seating capacity since today capacity includes a maxed out kitchen, maxed out servers, and full waiting area.

People have been really psyched out about COVID-19. The death rate is under 1% for those infected and probably much lower for people under age 50.

As far as 50% goes I doubt it will make any difference exactly how it is defined as long as social distancing is maintained. I really doubt anyone will be going around counting restaurant patrons or measuring the distance between them unless some busybody calls in a complaint.

[rock90]

BASE jumping is generally acknowledged as the most dangerous sport. One study puts its fatality rate at 0.04% per jump:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17495709

So if we take a COVID-19 death rate of "less than 1%" to be 0.4%, that would be like taking about ten BASE jumps.

Not sure if that makes me feel better or worse about the odds.

[Rick In Madison]

The license tag office in Madison was open.
Require 6' distance while standing in line and sitting in the waiting room. Waiting room chairs that are not allowed to be sat in are marked as such. Hand sanitizer is sprayed in your hands when you enter the building. When called upon, you enter one side of the line of processors and exit the opposite end.