AMHERST — On the sunny indoor patio where diners enjoy their meals, often with a famous popover that is a staple of Amherst’s dining scene, employees of Judie’s Restaurant spent their Monday morning filling containers with mashed potatoes, guacamole, salad greens and other items to take home to share with their families.
“We’ve emptied the refrigerator and are encouraging people to come by to help themselves, after they’ve washed their hands,” said co-owner Katie Day, who also passed around tips and paychecks.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, Judie’s — which has typically only shuttered during weather emergencies, and which Day said was doing great business even as local college students went home last week — closed for what Day expects will be two to three weeks.
“I personally felt it was time to do it,” she said. “I’m worried about my staff and customers.”
With the temporary closure of Judie’s comes the layoffs of 50 employees, about one third of which are full time. She advised them to file for unemployment as soon as possible.
Her decision came just hours before Gov. Charlie Baker announced that restaurants would not be allowed to serve dine-in patrons, and all bars would have to close, as the state confronts the spread of COVID-19.
While Day contemplated doing some sort of take-out service, she ultimately felt that didn’t make sense for Judie’s.
“I decided that’s not what people are looking for at this time,” Day said, adding that she will reevaluate the situation and staffing needs at the end of the month.
Some area restaurants may be able to cope better than others with the prohibition on having people eat in.
At Local Burger in Northampton, the aim is to maintain as much normalcy as possible.
While the restaurant will not be able to allow patrons to sit at tables to eat, or to serve any alcohol, orders can be placed at the counter.
“We’ll open up at 11 a.m. and will stay open until it dries out on us,” said co-owner Joe Igneri.
Local Burger already is feeling the effects of people not dining out; sales were down about $3,000 this past weekend over the previous weekend.
Igneri’s, son Jeff, who co-owns the restaurant, said he hopes people will take advantage of the two free, 15-minute parking spaces nearby.
Still, “It’s going to be a big hit for everyone,” Jeff Igneri said.
At Kisara in Easthampton, co-owner Mitchell Gohn said he stopped sit-down service after Saturday, having followed social distancing practices in recent days.
Gohn, who noted that about 40% of his business is already take-out, is encouraging customers to order by phone or online and said that food can be brought curbside.
“It’s definitely changing the business. We’re most concerned for employees,” Gohn said.
Usually, he has two or three servers, but now he’s down to just one, and he has cut a dishwasher position.
Missy Wajda, one of those employees, said the small, closeknit staff has been moving around their shifts and trying to look out for one another other.
Back in Amherst, Rob Watson at Lone Wolf is moving to have his food be pickup only, with orders to be placed in advance. Some will be delivered using Delivery Express and Door Dash.
“This is keeping our customer base safe. We have to do what the governor is telling us,” said Watson, who also had to lay off part-time staff at Lone Wolf. He’s trying to keep four full-time employees on for curbside service. Like Day, Watson encouraged his affected employees, college seniors, to file for unemployment immediately.
During this period, he will scale back hours to Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
He is already facing $38,000 lost in catering from the closing of the colleges and the University of Massachusetts.
Like at Judie’s, Watson is allowing his employees to take home the perishable items. “I’m letting them go shopping in my walk-in,” Watson said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.