As the cold winter season wraps up, restaurants have started to re-open their patios, and customers are returning to the day-old question: is it safe to dine outdoors?
Last year when the pandemic hit, we were quickly forced into lockdown in early March to prevent the spread of this virus. A few months later, businesses started to open their doors, phase by phase, following a meticulous plan formed by Governor Charlie Baker. Included in this plan were restaurants participating in Boston’s Temporary Outdoor Dining program that ran till December 1st, originally created by Mayor Marty Walsh. After observing the positive performance of the program, keeping both employees and customers safe, Mayor Walsh saw “the benefits outdoor dining can have on our neighborhoods: vibrant streets, support for local businesses, a safe and enjoyable experience for restaurant-goers, and, in many ways, a lifeline for our small businesses during this challenging time.” Based on the positive results for the community, they decided to resume the program this upcoming spring and summer season.
The City of Boston has begun to release Outdoor Dining applications for restaurants to fill out, with the plan to re-open their patios starting as early as March 22, 2021, and restaurants in the North End starting on April 1st. The City altered the 2020 Outdoor Dining Plan in order to better support both the community and business owners. Taking in requests and ideas, this year’s new plan for the Outdoor Dining program has already shown to be more thoroughly planned and accessible than the 2020 protocol. The 2021 plan includes more mentors to assist businesses during the application process, as well as the ability to track the application online making it more accessible to everyone. With a fully completed application, they are aiming for a 30-day turnover rate for approval. This comprehensive application is reviewed with sufficient oversight by many agencies and departments including the Mayor’s office, neighborhood services, the Boston Transportation Department (BTD), the Office of Disability, and many more (see the official guidelines here). With the goal of keeping the streets of Boston as safe as possible for everyone, The City of Boston has taken many precautions, including having restaurants take a picture of the intended outdoor space, to evaluate the level of safety of certain street areas around Boston. They are doing an amazing job working to provide the best service for restaurants while ensuring the streets of Boston are safe.
Learning from this process, we can see that by planning ahead and working together, the City of Boston, as well as Boston restaurants are in good shape as we approach Spring 2021. By soliciting community feedback, The City of Boston was able to garner information from a wide range of perspectives and incorporate community priority issues into the guidelines. Additionally, by planning four months ahead of the original April 1st start date, they were able to launch the applications in early January and are now able to open outdoor dining a few weeks ahead of schedule.
Boston took initiative and thought ahead and now it is time for your company to do the same. So, what are your plans for your business as we continue to live through this pandemic? Have you thought about your safety plan for your own business? Here are some of our tips to prepare for the next few months:
- See our recent blog — Returning to Work: The New “New Normal” — and learn helpful steps to get your company situated back into the office setting
- Evaluate all possible outcomes and be ready to adapt to changes in your plans
- Elicit help from outside sources to gain new perspectives
Take the initiative today, and contact us at info@evansbrothersconsulting.com or call us at 617-545-1500 to set up a short, no-cost, preliminary discussion.
No one knows Boston like the Evans Brothers.