First, the good news. Hampton Roads restaurants are doing pretty well, all things considered.
But only compared to the rest of the country.
For now, the waves of prominent restaurant closures that have struck dining centers like New York and Los Angeles, as well as Richmond and the D.C. area — permanently shuttering an estimated 100,000 restaurants across the country, according to National Restaurant Association estimates — have been much milder here, according to closure tallies kept by this newspaper.
And the renewed second surge in coronavirus cases this fall has not yet struck in Hampton Roads, an exercise in bated breath.
This isn’t to say it’s been easy.
Restaurant capacity is limited by law, and the coronavirus may have shifted diners away from indoor dining for the foreseeable future. Especially during the pandemic’s worst economic depths in April, restaurants had to take extreme measures to stay alive: rejiggering their entire menus for takeout and family meals, expanding or building outdoor dining spaces, and even converting into drive-through markets selling grocery essentials.
More here than elsewhere, restaurants have been hanging on.
“While Hampton Roads is faring worse than it did last year, the silver lining is it’s faring better than very many other major metropolitan areas,” says Robert McNab, economics professor at Old Dominion University and director of its Dragas Center for Economic Analysis & Policy.
From an abysmal trough in April, when about 4 in 10 food and accommodation workers were out of a job, Hampton Roads has rebounded comparatively quickly.
By July, employment in the food and hotel sector in Hampton Roads had crested to 90% of what it was during the same months in 2019, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. And this figure has held steady, reaching just under 92% in September. Restaurant after restaurant has told us, proudly, that they’ve been able to keep all or most of their staff employed during the pandemic.
In extraordinary times, those figures are also extraordinary — better than almost every major metropolitan area in the country, even as they mean that nearly 1 in 10 Hampton Roads food and hotel workers are out of a job. Among the country’s 40 largest metro areas, only Indianapolis and Cincinnati fared as well in September.
In Richmond and Northern Virginia, food employment sank lower in April, and recovered more slowly. According to preliminary numbers for September, those metro areas are at 83% and 79%, respectively, of the previous year’s food and hotel employment. In other parts of the country, it’s much worse. Miami and Los Angeles each stand at about 73%. And in New York City, about 4 in 10 restaurant employees are still out of work.
Some of Hampton Roads’ resilience is likely the result of unusually strong tourism in our area, which we reported in September. Hotel occupancy here is much higher than in other regions, buoyed partly by tourists who arrive by car rather than plane.
And in part, it’s the fact that the region’s federal and military dollars, which account for around 40% of our economy, have continued to flow.
“One of the pillars of the Hampton Roads economy is federal spending, and even with a contraction in tourism, federal spending continues apace,” McNab says. This means that a lot of highly paid, skilled workers — often working from home during the pandemic — still have money to spend at restaurants.
But though the numbers in Hampton Roads bode well for our recovery in 2021, says McNab, winter is coming. And with it, the warm and sunny weather that has kept diners on restaurant patios will evaporate, leaving many restaurants unable to augment their half-capacity dining rooms with seats outside.
“Many restaurants and breweries and bars have essentially been very flexible in expanding outdoor dining. How severe winter weather is, and whether they’ll still do that, is unanswered,” McNab says.
This is also a question weighing heavily on local restaurant owners.
“We’re concerned about how the winter will play out, I’m not going to lie, especially seeing the coronavirus numbers go up nationwide,” says Adrian Colaprete, co-owner of two locations of brunch spot Bay Local in Virginia Beach. “But the weather is our biggest concern. How do you make an outdoor tent in parking lot comfortable when it’s 40 degrees out?”
Here’s how restaurants are responding to the coming cold.
Patio-tent cities
In the parking lot of both Bay Local locations,, it looks a little like the circus is in town without the clowns.
In front of each restaurant during the summer, Colaprete and his staff set up two massive tents that amount to half of each restaurant’s capacity — about the same amount they had to give up to Phase 3 coronavirus restrictions — with socially distanced brunch lines on a recent Saturday that might as well have been the scene outside an Ariana Grande show.
Now, in addition to plants and carpeting, they’re adding a new component: heat.
“We added heaters, and the tents have duct work that will pump hot air in, and a fan blowing air out,” Colaprete says. “We can’t seal them up airtight or it defeats the point of outdoor seating. We’ll have to pay close attention to the wind direction, and each day the managers will have to note the direction of the wind, and then ventilate the opposite side of the wind.”
Tents aren’t a perfect solution: Rental tents priced for weddings can be prohibitively expensive by the month, and the restaurant burned through multiple store-bought tents as the elements wore them down.
But it’s the best option they have, even as windy days can be downright dangerous. Colaprete learned this while trying to cut the lines on a tent trying to blow away down Shore Drive.
“I’m chasing it with a knife trying to cut it loose, I ended up stabbing myself in the leg with a knife trying to undo it,” he laughs. “We’ve earned our spot in the outdoor restaurant business. … It’s been literal blood, sweat and tears at this point.”
Bay Local is far from alone in relying on heaters.
Gold Key’s restaurants at the Cavalier, Main and Marriott hotels in Virginia Beach and Norfolk will add heaters to their outdoor spaces, in addition to re-opening indoor Norfolk Italian spot Varia as hotel occupancy continues to increase.
Private-public consortium OpenNorfolk, which helped restaurants turn parking spaces into patios this spring, is now using $50,000 in federal CARES Act funding to offer patio heaters to more than 40 Norfolk restaurants so far — working with fire marshals to do so safely.
“We’re creating guidelines almost like an Ikea instruction set for owners to build stuff that will last,” says Mel Price of city-contracted architecture firm Work Program Architects, who says maintaining patio space is pivotal.
In a presentation to the City Council in October, OpenNorfolk cited a restaurant that said it generated nearly $200,000 in revenue just by turning two parking spaces into a patio.
In the next few weeks, Price says, the program plans to distribute 140 outdoor heaters, with priority given to minority- and women-owned restaurants. Most are already spoken for. Planned recipients so far include upscale-Continental restaurant Blanca, comfort-food spot My Mama’s Kitchen, multiple breweries including Benchtop and COVA, and Indian restaurant Tamarind.
But Price worries that making full use of the patios will require a change in mindset for Virginia diners used to warmer temperatures.
“I hope we see a culture shift and people will bundle up,” she says. “Norfolk has not traditionally been hardy, but at some point we have to. They do it in other countries … they’re doing it in Chicago.”
“I don’t know what else to say,” says Kevin Ordonez of Virginia Beach restaurant Baby Izakaya, which is transforming into a patio restaurant with outdoor heaters during the pandemic. “We have incredible food and service, and incredible atmosphere. But you’re probably going to have to wear a coat.”
The rooftop igloo
Starting Dec. 2 atop the roof of the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront, diners will be able to enjoy an entirely different version of heated patio: a rentable igloo with a view of the stars, craft cocktails from Catch 31 restaurant downstairs, and a limited food menu with snacks and charcuterie.
The hotel bought four rooftop igloos last year, as a novelty experience for revelers looking for something a little different, says Carlene Sharkey, the hotel’s director of restaurants. The igloo domes cost a $75 reservation fee for an hour and a half at a time, and can soon be reserved on the hotel website.
“The concept was more luxury; a posh, fun drinking atmosphere,” she says. “Have a cocktail, see the stars. The decor is lush and fuzzy and warm, there’s Bluetooth speakers. It’s a fun night with your friends.”
But now, with the addition of some new cleaning and safety protocols, it’s also the epitome of social distancing.
“With the trip up the rooftop, and being so secluded, it’s an opportunity for people to enjoy themselves after so many months with so much that’s unknown,” says Sharkey.
Revitalized indoor spaces and air filters
Multiple restaurants have also spent the summer renovating their interiors in anticipation of the tougher winter months.
At Croaker’s in Norfolk, Beverly McDonald has kept her restaurant shut for indoor dining during the entirety of the pandemic, relying instead on a “parklet” built for her by OpenNorfolk, offering patio seating in what used to be street parking spaces along 35th Street.
But as temperatures drop, she’ll finally be forced to open inside, in a space she’s newly renovated to mirror Harlem Renaissance decor, with higher partitions between booths and more space between diners. She’ll also add a new heated rear patio.
But to be comfortable opening to diners, she’ll be adding an expensive air filtration system designed to stop the restaurant’s heating vents from helping spread the coronavirus.
“I’m seeking to get funding to install an air filtration system proven to be effective in addressing viruses and bacteria through AC systems,” says McDonald. But the systems are expensive, as much as $22,000 for a restaurant her size.
“If it’s going to come down to safety,” she says, “I’ll get the best.”
In Newport News, inventive upscale spot Circa 1918 also spent the summer remodeling its interior into an art-deco space while making use of the outdoor patio for dining with a food truck — at least, until the truck got hit by a Dodge Durango in August during a late-night high-speed chase, and then neighbors complained about the food truck taking up a parking space.
Business has been good outdoors, says chef-owner Chad Martin.
“But as it gets colder, we have to move indoors,” he said. “This was always part of the plan.”
For Norfolk wine bar Press 626, which also expanded into a bustling and successful outdoor space — with planters and lights strung up over their parking lot — the winter is a source of worry. Co-owner Lindsay Bennett’s voice cracked more than once describing the anxiety of reshaping her restaurant again and again, adding family meals and re-imagining themselves for takeout.
They didn’t have the resources to spring for tenting and heaters, she says, so instead they’ll be expanding their restaurant into an upstairs space previously reserved for special events.
“We’ve really turned it into a speakeasy lounge,” she says. “We painted the walls almost black, made it very dark and moody with gold accents. It’s a totally different experience than the main dining room. We only have six tables, everything is socially distanced and comfortable. We bit the bullet and hope people feel safe coming in.”
An uncertain future
But even with Hampton Roads doing better than most areas, that’s not guaranteed to continue. And fatigue is setting in among restaurateurs who have to change their whole business model seemingly every month.
“It’s nerve wracking,” says chef-owner Stephen Marsh, of “finer-diner” LeGrand Kitchen in Norfolk. “The last couple months haven’t been awesome. Since the first couple months, we’ve seen a steady decrease every month.”
The restaurant has been a hotbed of innovation, with theme months, special menus, low-cost fish and chips or fried chicken sandwiches geared for takeout, a food market, additional catering business, and new patio seats. He’s also taking reservations for the first time in his restaurant’s history. He tried tents, but said they ripped apart or blew away in the elements.
“It’s like I’m starting a new restaurant every month,” he says. “How many little shticks do I have to do to get people in the door?… I get tired of having to spend money to make money.”
He’s not planning on closing anytime soon, working a skeleton crew for limited dine-in customers and a steady line of cars doing takeout. He also built a fire pit for the winter.
“We’ll just keep pushing,” he says.
At Croc’s 19th Street Bistro in Virginia Beach, co-owner Laura Habr says that in the absence of federal leadership on coronavirus, her city has not done enough to make it easy to do business. She worries that many restaurants will have to close during a rough winter as their capacity drops without patio customers, citing National Restaurant Association estimates that as many as 40% of restaurants are in danger of closing before the pandemic is through.
Habr says she’s had zoning issues trying to add extra patio seats, and was told by the fire marshal’s office that her patio heaters didn’t meet code. Without a heated patio, she says, pandemic mandates would bring her restaurant capacity from 200 to about 50. Local restaurants will need leadership from Virginia Beach to stay in business, she says.
“They need to step up. We’re the largest tourism city in the commonwealth, you’d think we have the vigor and the fight,” she says. “But if they don’t make it a priority, it’s going to be too late. It would be great to get a call from Economic Development, saying, ‘You need heaters, let’s get you there. Let’s keep you in business so when we get out of this we’ll be at full capacity.'”
According to McNab, it will be a difficult balance for cities trying to thread the needle between keeping restaurants afloat and keeping COVID cases low — especially for restaurants that can’t augment their seating with heated patios.
“Restaurants will ask for lifting of restrictions, and if those aren’t lifted, there will be a contraction in the sector,” he says. “But relaxed dining restrictions have seen rapid rises in COVID infections. This is a balance that is very difficult: how to manage COVID versus fostering increased activity. That’s the tension going into these months for restaurants and bars.”
At Croaker’s, McDonald is trying to stay positive as the temperatures drop, even as she doesn’t know yet how to pay for her air filtration systems.
“We’ve got no anxiety,” she says. “Just hope.”
Matthew Korfhage, 757-446-2318, matthew.korfhage@pilotonline.com
