BYRON CENTER, Mich. — Since mid-March, 84th Street Pub & Grille in Byron Center has been closed.
"We did not stay open for curbside," said general manager, Liana Taylor, "originally, we thought it'd be for two weeks, then that turned into three months."
But on Monday morning, the doors were unlocked finally allowing customers inside.
"I'm super nervous, we don't know what to expect," added Taylor, "we don't know if we'll be busy all day long, how people are going to react if they'll be patient as we're reopening our tables.
The staff at 84th street is taking extreme precaution to ensure everyone's safety once they're inside the restaurant.
"We have a disinfectant and are disinfecting all the tables, we let it sit on for five minutes, go back and rinse it off and sanitize," Taylor said. "Then, we make sure we're putting a cleaned and sanitized sticker on the table so when the customer sits down, they know it has been cleaned for their safety."
The restaurant has also added contactless menus and disposable silverware at the customer's request.
"We're taking our time to make sure we're cleaning things and properly sanitizing," said Taylor, "we're washing our hands, changing our gloves and wearing our masks when appropriate."
For the past ten weeks, Taylor hasn't been able to see her staff, which she says is her second family.
"It's like not seeing your family for a long time. In our staff meetings, it's hard not hugging them, it's like, 'hey, air high five because we still have to keep our distance.'"
While there's excitement seeing customers back inside the restaurant, there's also a lot of uncertainty for the restaurant moving forward.
"We're hoping we get a lot of the community to come back in, we're usually really busy," Taylor added about her goals, "we have a lot. of faces we see on a weekly basis and we're hoping to see those faces. We're excited to have them here."
