Will easing of COVID-19 restrictions help local restaurants?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte restaurateurs say easing Covid-19 restrictions on capacity at their establishments won’t likely have a measurable impact.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s latest executive order allows restaurants to have 75% capacity indoors and 100% outdoors starting Friday at 5 p.m. — though a requirement for 6 feet of social distancing remains. That caveat makes it possible for some restaurants to squeeze in an extra table or two. Most remain limited by square footage.

The order also lifts a ban on late-night alcohol sales, allowing businesses to stay open longer.

The bump in capacity will have little — if any — monetary impact at Rob Duckworth’s restaurants.

“You can have 100% capacity, but if you’ve got to keep 6 feet apart, it doesn’t get you there,” he says. “It does show we’re going in the right direction.”

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However, Duckworth thinks the lifting of some restrictions might boost customers’ confidence in dining out.

Read the full story here for more on what he and other Charlotte restaurant owners are expecting.

Cox Media Group