The opening of outdoor cafes: terrace repairs, menu revision and special attention to the weather Food

Cafes and restaurants that have been completely closed for many months and may have provided more or less passive food delivery services will come back to life at a more active pace. Or at least that was to be expected, especially considering last summer’s siege and the siege of the outdoor cafes.

So on Tuesday and Wednesday, preparations were boiling: Entrepreneurs lined up the workforce, reviewed the menu, and took care of protection from the cold and rain outside. Even several interlocutors spoke with 15 minutes talking while watching or briefly turning away from outdoor deck renovation.

The food halls will have capacity for 100 or more visitors.

Diners who are not sure which cuisine in the country has been lost the most can, as of Thursday, access more than one so-called food hall in the capital: these are places that bring together different food operators.

Starting Thursday, Downtown Food Hall & Kino Deli will open to visitors the outdoor terrace in the center of Vilnius. Adomas Grigaitis, co-owner of this place, said that the outdoor terrace will be able to accommodate about 150 people at the tables, maintaining all safety distances. Already on Tuesday, speaking with the interlocutor in the background, the sounds of the renovation works of the terrace were heard.

A. Grigaitis said that he believes there will be no shortage of visitors, that people who miss eating out, have different tastes, testify to last year’s experience. He said that the food operators of this room are also waiting for the opening outside, some of them had narrowed the menu, leaving the most suitable dishes to take away or deliver to home, and now the full range of dishes will return. “Our bar will also start operating, we are also very eager to do so, everything will gradually recover,” said the businessman.

Also immediately on Thursday, visitors will be greeted at outdoor tables by the Pasaje de los Senadores in the Old Town, where food will be prepared at all points here, except in the 2 main restaurants, 14 Horses and Nineteen18. The outdoor area of ​​the gallery has capacity for 100 people, who will be able to enjoy pastries, snacks, wine bar offers, and grilled dishes. A few days before the opening of the outdoor space in the Sentorių Passage, work was still underway, trying to ensure that only visitors suffered as little as possible from inclement weather: rain protection and heaters were installed.

According to Andrius Kubilius, the head chef of the restaurant “14 Horses”, we will open his place only later, starting in May, but only because the final lines of the spring menu are still being prepared. The menu will be a bit narrower, because, according to A. Kubilius, “you want to see the flow of visitors and the needs after the quarantine.”

Understand the challenges of the future, but open up

The representatives of the Fortas restaurant group do not doubt that diners have a special longing for eating in cafes and restaurants. This group consists of 5 “Fortas” restaurants in Vilnius and Kaunas, 6 “Etno dvaras” restaurants in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda and 3 franchise restaurants in Panevezys and Druskininkai. As Kęstutis Markevičius, the group’s marketing manager, said in the middle of the week, the opportunity to work in the field will be seized immediately, as soon as it is allowed.

When several different business segments return to the market at the same time, the introduction of mandatory testing naturally results in higher queues.

On the other hand, he acknowledged that there will be challenges before they open, even if they are already open. One of them is the returning employee test. “When several different business segments return to the market at the same time, the introduction of mandatory testing naturally results in higher queues. Some of our employees who want to return to work are only registered for the survey next week, he said, adding that there may be minor interruptions in the supply. – Suppose that brewers: for restaurants, they urgently need to pour different types of beer into kegs. A little puzzled. We also understand them: too many kegs cannot be filled, if it suddenly reappears a new wave of COVID-19, where to put it in the beer kegs?

According to K. Markevičius, profitable activities are difficult to predict, especially for smaller outdoor cafes. “After all, due to increased distance requirements for the design of tables and passages, the number of tables repaired will be more limited, distances will increase, additional maintenance and hygiene requirements will contribute, so the service proper will challenge the efficiency of employees “said the interlocutor. Outdoor cafes will be flooded with a wave of diners who long for restaurants, and then it will determine it for a long time, which is not usually pampered in our country.

Despite such challenges, restaurants in this group will be opened, both to the wish of the guests and to reinvigorate the skills of the staff. When opening outdoor cafes, a narrower menu is put aside and restaurant openings are brought back with a broader menu. “More guest meals would be lost, which we could not enjoy due to the unsuitability of some dishes for transport,” said a representative of the restaurant group and assured that there will be no lack of new products, dishes, and snacks in the open air.

The opening awaits like a celebration

On the background of the latest preparations for the opening of the field, on Wednesday we also spoke with Barbora Grigaliūnaitė-Kadūnienė, co-owner of the popular “Sal, Flour y Agua” bakery in the capital. “It is a holiday for us, all the staff have gathered, we are preparing, we are happy, we open on Thursday,” he said. The outdoor cafe next to the bakery, covered by a rain-covered roof, accommodates just over two dozen guests meeting all security requirements.

We will continue working with the delivery of food, we will coordinate these activities.

According to the interlocutor, the quarantine time was a good opportunity for the bakery to work with the menu – both cakes and various take-out dishes, he worked with food delivery operators, but a branded bakery dish – the delicious Eggs Benedict did not. they are prepared because they must be consumed freshly prepared. “These delicious eggs are making a comeback, anyone who misses them will be able to eat them again. Of course, we will continue to work with the food delivery, we will coordinate these activities, ”said the interlocutor, whose business, which is being developed together with a business partner, is expanding, a new location will open soon in the Paupis district.

Enjoy a cozy terrace and an updated menu

Starting this week, the BBQ restaurant “City Chef” will be waiting for visitors in the capital – it will already be possible to sit on the patio on Pylimo Street on Thursday, next to the Hall Market – a couple of days later. Entrepreneurs Artūras Samavičius and Ignas Gvozdiovas, who are actively working with food delivery during quarantine and preparing semi-finished products, said they longed for communication with guests and lively communication.

According to A. Samavičius, the quarantine became a good opportunity to update the menu: barbecue chicken quarters appeared on the menu, a new burger, some of the old dishes were simply improved.

On Wednesday we spoke with the interlocutor after he interrupted the remodeling of the patio, which will house about 20 people at safe distances. “Together with the team, we helped: we turned on the lights, painted the walls, arranged all the other works so that the terrace could comfortably receive our guests”, A. Samavičius was optimistic about the occasion of the inauguration outside.

At first it will invite some tables, then it will expand

Starting Thursday, some smaller food venues and wine restaurants will return to a more active pace of work, it doesn’t even matter if they line up a few tables outside.

According to Tadas Vaitkus, the founder of the Japanese restaurant OIŠY Izakaya, which was loved by Vilnius residents and lively last summer, starts on Thursday regardless of the weather, because visitors missed this place and the restaurant missed visitors. “For now, we will have 4-5 tables outside, but then we promise to have even more than last year, we are still awaiting the decision of the municipality on this,” said T. Vaitkus. According to him, he is planning to take over a more serious inventory of rain and sun in the coming weeks, because last year was quite symbolic.

OIŠY Izakaya intends to return to its menu with the opening of the field, from which it was launched last February, as it wants to nurture even more, as it has had to adapt to the presentation. On the other hand, for the moment, this place will definitely not give up food delivery and take-out services, it will combine the work of serving people in the open air and preparing food for transportation, said the interlocutor.

At various outdoor tables, guests will be greeted by the wine restaurant titled Somm, run by businessmen, food and wine experts Arminas Darasevičius and Egidijus Lapinskas. “For now, we will have a simpler and narrower food menu, we will see what the flow is like, we do not want to buy too many products in advance,” said A. Darasevičius, saying that “Somm” will finally be able to return to the usual restaurant format of wines, because temporarily it has become both a wine store and a place to take out food.

When asked about other managed restaurants, Rise and Dine, A. Darasevičius stated that he doesn’t see any point in opening them just yet: Rise will continue to prepare takeout or home delivery, and Dine will open only when he can work inside.