With the global pandemic likely to last through the summer, breweries across the country are facing different timelines—varying by state and locality—as to when they legally have the option of reopening their taprooms.
As more people in the hospitality industry ponder how to welcome customers as safely as possible—while also protecting their staff—new and detailed best practices are emerging. They offer a glimpse of service and public life that will be very different, for a while, from what it was before the pandemic.
This week, Georgia became one of the first states in the country to “reopen,” though hundreds of restaurants opted to remain closed for now. A quick canvas of breweries there found that virtually all are still limiting sales to curbside and to-go only, though at least one—Reformation in the Atlanta area—was offering draft beer and limited outdoor seating for spaced-out groups of eight or fewer people.