Since mid-June, a small New Jersey restaurant near the Delaware River has been serving up to eight tables of patrons — the most that it can fit within its outdoor porch and sidewalk area.
Rosella Caloiero knows if the restaurant were located just half a mile west of where it is, it could serve these patrons and several more customers dining inside the eatery.
And she knows that her customers know it too.
Caloiero is the owner of the Frenchtown Café, which just reopened late last year after being destroyed in a fire in August 2018 and is only a three-minute drive away from Uhlerstown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Alongside 11 other Pennsylvania counties, Bucks County shifted into its Green Phase on Friday — a phase that encompasses the reopening of restaurants and bars at 50% occupancy.
Reflecting upon Gov. Phil Murphy’s recent announcement that restaurants will not reopen for indoor dining as planned on July 2, Caloiero expressed her concern that patrons initially desiring to eat at her establishment may instead make the short drive to Pennsylvania.
“Absolutely they will (go to Bucks County), especially if it rains,” Caloiero said. “Our business is going to be determined by the weather, and that’s not fair to us.”
Caloeiro’s desire to expand the reopening of her restaurant is shared by the Hunterdon County Board of Freeholders, who have called on Murphy to allow indoor dining to resume across Hunterdon, Warren and Sussex counties — where coronavirus cases are not as widespread as in other parts of the state.
According to a press release shared with NJ Advance Media on Tuesday, Freeholder Director Shaun C. Van Doren and Deputy Director Susan J. Soloway have issued a letter to Murphy asking that he reconsider his decision to cancel the scheduled reopening of indoor dining and reinstate it for restaurants in the northwest region of the state in time for the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
“Numerous restaurants in Hunterdon County and across the state of New Jersey continue to face severe economic hardship and despite their best efforts they have faced challenges in offering outdoor dining. Now they have invested in preparations for indoor dining only to have the rug pulled out at the last moment,” the letter says.
Their request draws upon the joint communication calling for a regional approach to reopening sent to the governor in May by the freeholders of Hunterdon, Warren and Sussex. All three counties have recorded less than 1,300 coronavirus cases since the outbreak began, and on Tuesday were the three New Jersey counties that received the lowest number of new cases. Four were recorded in Hunterdon County, and three in Warren and Sussex counties.
“While initially dismissed by the governor’s office, the regional reopening plan was sound public policy that should have been strongly considered by Governor Murphy,” Soloway said in the release. “The Hunterdon County Freeholder board has all along sought to provide reasonable ideas to restart our state’s economy in a responsible manner — whether it be retail curbside pickup, appointment-based shopping, (or) a regional reopening strategy.”
Indoor dining at up to 25% capacity was expected to resume on Thursday, but Murphy reversed his decision because of spikes in the number of coronavirus cases across other states that have reopened for indoor dining, as well as recent scenes of packed crowds at outdoor bars and restaurants in New Jersey.
In his daily coronavirus press briefing on Wednesday, Murphy identified restaurants and bars as among the “most dangerous” environments during the pandemic, and said the state will not move forward in reopening them until knowing there will be “absolute compliance” from establishments that have reopened for outdoor services.
In defending a regional approach to reopening, Van Doren objected to the fact that Hunterdon County eateries will be “punished” because of “the actions of a few bad actors at the Jersey Shore.”
“Numerous restaurant owners across Hunterdon County have assured me that they are committed to a responsible reopening because their livelihood depends upon it,” Van Doren said in the release. “It’s completely unfair to assume a family-run café in Stockton Borough is comparable to a beach bar at the Shore, for example.”
Echoing Van Doren, Soloway expressed her concerns that not all restaurants in Hunterdon County are able to reopen for outdoor dining in asking the governor to reconsider the statewide reopening strategy that he has thus far pursued.
“Many of our restaurants situated in downtowns across Hunterdon County simply do not have adequate space to provide for outdoor dining and, as such, continue to offer takeout only,” Soloway said in the release. “Despite government-imposed restrictions, we expect these same restaurant owners to continue to retain staff and pay their bills on time, including local property taxes.”
Caloeiro said she was particularly frustrated by the governor’s reversal because of the preparations she had made to resume indoor dining on Thursday as planned, including hiring more staff and ordering more food.
“It’s not just like ‘poof!’ and you’re open,” Caloeiro said. “You’re giving us three days’ notice that we’re not going to reopen inside, when we’re taking all the precautions to reopen inside.”
“I don’t understand why casinos are allowed to open, salons are allowed to open, stores are allowed to open, but you’re isolating restaurants. And if you’re isolating restaurants, then it should be fairer down the line — not just restaurants, but everyone. And especially at 25% capacity; that’s not even a lot of people. So why not start it?” she added.
Rose Carbonara, owner of the Lambertville Station Restaurant and Inn, expressed her “extreme disappointment” at the cancelation of indoor dining — particularly because it has resumed just down the street from her establishment, in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
“People are very confused. They know that there’s indoor dining in New Hope, and they just assume that we have it,” Carbonara said. “We only have so much limited seating outside. So of course they’re disappointed ... we have to turn people away everyday.”
“And you also have to start thinking about how you have to re-market. Because that’s more business that you’re losing not just from being shut down, but now folks are staying on the New Hope side and not even coming over the bridge into Lambertville,” she added.
Like Caloeiro, Carbonara also recognized that the ability to dine is fully dependent upon the weather — which is not just problematic because of the threat posed by rain.
“A lot of the elderly just don’t want to be outside in the 80- or 90-degree weather. With that clientele, instead of feeling safe about being outside, it’s just too warm for them,” Carbonara said.
The Lambertville Station Restaurant and Inn enjoys both an outdoor and indoor bar. But, unlike the bar owners down the Shore that provoked Murphy to cancel indoor dining, Carbonara has elected to keep the outdoor bar closed in anticipation of the social distancing issues that could have arisen from reopening it.
“It’s very difficult to move seats apart at our bar, so we determined early on, ‘Let’s just remove them,‘” Carbonara said. “And we literally have markings on the floor in front of the bar and a sign on the bar so that people know. People can’t even walk onto the deck and go to the bar without being stopped by the hostess. So we’ve managed to control that.”
In recognizing that both her restaurant and many others have abided by the guidelines set forth by the state, Carbonara expressed her confidence in her establishment’s preparedness to reopen without posing risks to the health of its staff and patrons.
“So many restaurants have followed the rules and done everything that we need to do to prepare properly. The last thing that we want is for the numbers to increase. Then, we’re shut down indefinitely,” Carbonara said.
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Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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