Restaurant and bar owners in downtown Mobile spent the past week scrambling to adapt after county health officials ordered dining rooms closed in response to the spreading coronavirus outbreak, forcing many small businesses to lay off staff and rethink how they could stay open at all.
The Mobile County Health Department directed all restaurants and bars in the county to suspend dine-in service and limit operations to to-go and drive-thru orders only. The move, aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 by reducing close contact between customers, landed hard on a downtown restaurant scene that depends heavily on lunch crowds, happy hour regulars and evening diners.
Several owners described revenue drops of as much as 90 percent within just three or four days of the order taking effect. For businesses that operate on thin margins even in normal times, a decline of that size threatened to be the difference between staying open and shutting down for good.
Todd Henson, owner of the downtown restaurant 219, was among those who felt the impact almost immediately. With dine-in service no longer an option and foot traffic downtown drying up, Henson made the difficult call to close his doors indefinitely rather than try to limp along on take-out orders alone.
Word of the closure spread quickly among his regular customers, many of whom had made 219 a fixture of their weekly routine. Henson said his phone started ringing with calls from longtime patrons urging him to reconsider and reopen, even if only for carry-out service.
That outpouring of support convinced Henson to reverse course and reopen the restaurant for to-go orders, betting that the same loyal customer base that built the business over the years would show up to help carry it through the crisis.
Henson was not alone. Several other downtown restaurants and bars that had initially shut their doors after the health department order followed a similar path, reopening for limited service once owners heard from customers determined to keep supporting their favorite local spots.
The scramble to adjust business models on short notice reflects a broader challenge facing small business owners across Mobile as the coronavirus outbreak upends daily routines. Restaurants that never offered delivery or curbside pickup before were forced to build those capabilities almost overnight, while employees who normally waited tables or tended bar shifted to packaging orders and running food out to cars.
For many owners, the response from neighbors and regulars in the days since the order took effect has offered a measure of reassurance that the downtown restaurant community can adapt, even as the full economic toll of the outbreak remains uncertain. Community members have encouraged one another on social media to order takeout, buy gift cards and tip generously as a way of helping local restaurants and their employees make it through the disruption.
City and county officials have said the restrictions on dine-in service are expected to remain in place as public health authorities continue monitoring the spread of COVID-19 in the region, leaving restaurant owners bracing for an extended period of reduced operations.