VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — COVID-19 has left the Hampton Roads restaurant industry with a ton of uncertainty.
Many restaurants found new ways to adapt to COVID-19, such as changing their entrances and creating new spaces to keep customers and staff safe.
The Stockpot restaurant in Virginia Beach has adapted its business format to stay open through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our to-go business has increased 30 to 40 percent throughout COVID. Sometimes even more so," said General Manager Amber Kostka.
Kostka said plans are in place to work during the winter.
"We decided to invest in a heated tent. So we’re still waiting on that to get installed hopefully in the next week or two we’ll have that out there. It will be walled and heated that way we can still accommodate a good amount of guests because right now we just have four tables," said Kostka.
Baby Izakaya is another Virginia Beach restaurant that had to make modifications. Owner, Kevin Ordonez explained they had to change their front entrance due to COVID-19.
“You basically come down this walkway here and it opens up to our back patio area. The space really comes alive at night time and as you can see, we did a lot of work running lights and getting everything out together ready to go," said Ordonez.
Ordonez closed his restaurant just five days after opening due to COVID-19. Now, it’s back open. Ordonez says he is going to see what happens once the cold weather sets in.
"Winter is going to be tough. And rain is going to be tough. Wind is going to be tough. Really, a lot of this is going to be just us rolling with the punches and taking it day-by-day," said Ordonez.
Both owners expressed they will continue to find ways to get through the winter while working their way around COVID-19 and the safety restrictions.