CAVE CREEK, Ariz. — Larry Wendt is looking forward to May 11 perhaps as much as any date he’s ever looked forward to in his entire life.
“The light that we were looking at at the end of the tunnel wasn’t a freight train. It was actual help!” Wendt said Wednesday.
Wendt has owned the Buffalo Chip Saloon in Cave Creek since 1999. He has kept his place open since the governor placed restrictions on bars and restaurants to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
On Monday, May 11, most of those restrictions end.
“We had already put most all of the protocols into place, and so it’s going to be a very easy transition for us to open up on Monday morning at 10 a.m.,” Wendt said.
The Buffalo Chip will switch to disposable plastic silverware and will serve meals in disposable containers that open and close. It will move from bottles to single-use condiments. It will serve drinks in plastic cups. Staff will wear masks and gloves. Buffalo Chip has also reduced its capacity by about 70%, using its total square footage and allowing for each person to have 36 square feet clear around them.
“Six feet in every direction,” Wendt explained Wednesday.
Security will also be using a temperature gun to scan the foreheads of staff and customers before they enter the building.
“Our security knows how to use them,” Wendt said. “I think we’re ready.”
Not every restaurant plans to open up as soon as legally allowed.
Local chain Oregano’s posted on its website that it would wait until Monday May 18 to open. National Chain Cheesecake Factory told 12 News it planned to continue serving to-go orders only and did not give a date for that to change.
