‘It will take a while for some people’: Restaurants around New Jersey prepare for indoor dining Friday

Restaurants around New Jersey are preparing for the limited resumption Friday of indoor dining, and for the first time since mid-March, customers will able to dine inside.

News 12 Staff

Sep 3, 2020, 10:51 AM

Updated 1,575 days ago

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Restaurants around New Jersey are preparing for the limited resumption Friday of indoor dining, and for the first time since mid-March, customers will able to dine inside.
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Restaurants lucky enough with space for outdoor dining will now increase their capacity by 25%. Mike Simko showed News 12 around the inside of his restaurant, Simko's Grill, Thursday, as he made sure everything was in place for Friday.
“I think most people say there's not a week that goes by where someone at a table says it's their first time out,” says Simko. “It will take a while for some people, some will. I talked to some last night and I said to the bar regulars and I asked them and they said no, not ready, some people will, some people won't.”
A similar reopening plan is also in place at Vic's Restaurant in Bradley Beach.
“It hasn't been easy, but you just keep coming to work and keep going,” says Ed Dollive. “You don't have any choices. We are fortunate. We had good take out to fall back on and that grew as we got deeper into things. Keeping our staff busy. We do our best and summer season outdoor dining has been taking the place of the indoor.”

Another issue many restaurant owners are facing is a staff shortage, and like many other places, Simko's Grill. Both agree when the weather gets colder, if capacity isn't increased inside, there will be another wave of closures.