Colorado and Denver restaurant owners are leery of requiring dine-in patrons be vaccinated, according to industry officials and surveys of restauranteurs taken this month. They’re concerned about policing customers on something that’s become a political lightning rod.
“The public was very empathetic and kind during the height of the pandemic,” said Denise Mickelsen, spokeswoman for the Colorado Restaurant Association. “Everybody knew restaurant workers were bearing the brunt of it. But somehow that has all, that seems to have dried up in a number of instances, and people are getting rude, and it’s not fair to restaurant workers.”
Both EatDenver — “an independent restaurant network” in the capital — and the restaurant association conducted separate polls this month to gauge owners’ positions on vaccine requirements, as well as COVID-19 measures in general. The two surveys revealed that most restauranteurs don’t currently have a policy, and they overwhelmingly don’t plan to institute a requirement that patrons be inoculated.
But officials said a government-issued order requiring such a policy would receive wider support among the industry. Not only would it create uniformity across restaurants, they said, but it would take pressure off of restaurant owners — and their customer-facing staff — from having to defend an individual position to any customers who disagreed. It would be particularly welcomed if it helped restaurants avoid limits on capacity or another a shutdown order.
“That’s the sentiment that I’m hearing, is that if proof of vaccine is needed to get through the next phase of the pandemic without capacity restrictions or another shutdown, then restaurant operators would like it to be a government mandate versus having all of the risk and responsibility placed on individual operators to make those decisions,” said Katie Lazor, EatDenver’s executive director.
Earlier this month, the restaurant association surveyed 148 operators statewide, half of which were in Denver. More than 50% said they didn’t have a mask or vaccine policy for staff, and more than three-quarters said they have no policy for patrons. Just two said they required customers show proof of vaccination before they could eat indoors.
What’s more, 73% said they had no plans to institute any such policies in the future, “unless mandated to do so.” Twelve percent said they are planning to institute those requirements but wish there was a government mandate. Of those planning to require masks or vaccines, 77% said they were concerned about their staff “having to police guests.”
That concern about staff facing abuse or added stress is exacerbated by the labor shortage, industry officials said. Many restaurants are hurting for employees, and prompting them to take on an additional duty — particularly one as controversial as vaccines — could make it worse.
“Restaurants very much care about (the spread of the delta variant),” Mickelsen said. “The problem is they’re worried about their staffs. It’s hard enough with the labor shortage. People who are working are working really hard. The idea that the public is being rude or worse to them because of safety requirements, it’s depressing. Owners are going to protect their staff at all costs.”
The EatDenver survey similarly showed minimal support for vaccine requirements. Of 120 independent restaurants in the city who responded to the questionnaire, 53% said they were requiring unvaccinated staff to wear masks, and 5.8% are mandating their staff be inoculated. Sixty percent said they had no vaccination policy in place that applied to guests.
Zero percent said they required all guests to wear masks. Nearly 66% said they were not planning on requiring patrons be vaccinated to eat indoors, unless they were required to.
Of the 19% of restaurants who are considering a policy, 73% said policing the requirement is “the main factor giving (them) pause.”
“A lot of those operators, even if they’re interested in it, they’re waiting on guidance from the city or state leaders to tell them whether or not this is what is needed to get through the next phase of the pandemic,” Lazor said. “It’s not a decision that should fall on individual operators. We’re dealing with a global pandemic, and it’s really up to our health experts to tell us what is necessary to get through it, versus one operator here and there creating their own policies.”
Lazor said she didn’t have a sense of whether such a mandate was coming. On Tuesday, industry leaders and restaurant owners met with city officials, including Bob McDonald, the executive director of Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment. McDonald gave a presentation walking through the city’s recent vaccine mandate, according to Theresa Marchetta, Mayor Michael Hancock’s spokeswoman. But the city was not previewing any sort of mandate.
Jessica Kinney, the director of people for the Denver-based restaurant group Bonanno Concepts, which recently implemented a vaccine requirement, said some in the industry were disappointed that there hasn’t been a mandate from city or state officials.
“Everyone thinks it would be easier if there was a mandate in the city,” she said. “It is much easier for staff to be able to say, ‘Sorry a it’s city, state, whatever mandate.’ … That was a disappointment, that there wasn’t a state mandate. And from my conversations with other owners and managers, everyone just wishes there would be a mandate from the state or city.”
Via a spokeswoman, McDonald said Wednesday that because of Denver’s high vaccination rate, the city is “leaving (vaccine) requirements up to individual businesses at this time. We continue tracking and monitoring our situation and will adjust Public Health Orders accordingly.”
Short of a requirement, even guidance from the city or state “would certainly be helpful,” Lazor said. Restaurant owners here are watching Palm Springs and New York City, both of which are requiring proof of vaccination for indoor dining, to get a sense of the viability of such a program.
Earlier this week, Bonanno, which runs 10 local restaurants, announced it would require unvaccinated guests wear masks between now and the end of September. That policy kicked in Monday, and patrons must sign a “declaration” to attest to their vaccination status, said Kinney, the director of people for the group. The next phase will begin Sept. 30, when unvaccinated customers will be asked “to either do a to-go order or dine elsewhere,” Kinney said.
Right now, Bonanno is requiring guests self-attest, as opposed to showing their vaccine cards. That may change, Kinney said, and the group is hoping that “technology” improves — meaning some sort of digital vaccine pass, like the ones instituted in New York.
The group is only three days into the first step of its policy. But already, 20% of its unvaccinated staff have gone to get inoculated. Some guests have been upset, Kinney said, but she suspects that there’s a “silent majority” of people who aren’t dining out at all because of fear about the spread of COVID-19. Restaurants who require vaccines may see an uptick in business from that group, she said.
This content was originally published here.
