Coronavirus Update (MN): Targeted Restrictions Begin For Bars/Restaurants, Social Gatherings
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota's newest COVID-19 restriction will go into effect Friday night.
Under Gov. Tim Walz's latest orders, all bars and restaurants have to close dine-in service at 10 p.m and stay closed until 4 a.m.
"If we're going to beat this ting, now is the time," he said on Friday.
Robb Jones owns Meteor Bar in North Minneapolis. His establishment thrives on later night hours.
"Our peak hours I would say are probably eight to one in the morning," he said. He believes this 10 p.m. curfew will significantly impact the amount of traffic he sees in his bar.
So, he's finding creative ways to bring in customers.
"What we're actually launching next week is more of a tiki-style environment with reservations. We're going to open earlier than we were, especially on weekends," said Jones. He's hoping to take people on the vacation they had to cancel this year - with tropical themed cocktails.
"I think a vast majority of restaurant owners expected when Gov. Walz spoke that he was just going to shut restaurants down, so to be honest with you the curfew is a bit of a positive in that regard," he said.
Gavin Kaysen owns Spoon and Stable, Demi, and Bellecour in the North Loop.
This curfew limits the amount of reservations they will have available, with the latest one now being 8:30 p.m. in order to close the restaurant by 10 p.m.
"We've got 25% less reservations this weekend already compared to the last four weekends, and that's based only on the curfew," said Kaysen.
Walz said Friday he's monitoring the results of this curfew, prepared to restrict more businesses if needed.
"There very well may be more mitigation measures that have to be taken if we're seeing more where these hot spots are," he said.
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