By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

Usually, the collective noise of families and friends gathering and eating at tables is part of the experience at restaurants.

The pandemic has put a hush to that.

However, a few local restaurant owners have rolled up their sleeves, washed their hands and opted to continue serving patrons with to-go and/or delivery orders.  

Beth’s Kitchen Cafe is among the local  restaurants staying open and catering to the public by offering pick-up food orders. Additionally, Beth’s Cafe provides curbside service for customers who would rather remain in the vehicle.

Earlier this month, owner Beth Doonan started to formulated a back-up plan because she wanted her business to remain open and because she wanted to be there for her clientele, community members she has known for years.

“Everyone is different. There are some people who just won’t cook — they need you. There are other people who need a place to go — they are scared. When something is open, they can come in and get some food,” she said.

“Then, there are people who don’t want to come in. They want to maintain the isolation part of it so we will meet them at their car,” she said.

All the while, the focus of her business, of her small crew of employees, is on keeping a social distance from each other and from the customers. 

“This is our new temporary normal,” Doonan said.

“We want to keep working. We want to keep feeding people. We want to serve you, feed you, and love you from a distance,” she said. “I am following what the state told us we could do,” she said.

The writing was on the wall so Doonan started to cook up a plan before Gov. Janet Mills laid down mandates for restaurants.  

“Of course, when I knew it was hitting our area, I had a plan. You have to have a plan in order to make it through something like this.

I was just complying with whatever we were being asked to do. I knew it was going to happen,” she said. 

Besides a flexible plan, a positive attitude goes a long way.

“My attitude makes a huge difference,” Doonan said.

She told her staff if they didn’t want to work during this period, they were free to stay home. Then, there was a skeleton crew left to run the cafe each day.

“Everybody seems to be supportive, very compliant with protocol,” she said.

Other business-owners had a different take on the best approach for their establishments.

For example, long-time businesses like Ricky’s Diner on Main Street, Morning Glory Diner on Portland Road in Bridgton and Chute’s Cafe in South Casco, have weighed the advice of the Governor’s Office and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and decided to close temporarily.

Meanwhile, the Bridgton House of Pizza — which was already set up for pick-up —remained open.

“We were busy tonight,” an employee named Bill said on Tuesday. 

“We have an On-line thing going on. We have the slice, which is Oniline. You can order on your computer or on your phone,” he said referring to slicelife.com, which allows people to order pizza from their favorite pizzarie.

It’s pick up only. In other words, per governor’s order, there is no sit-down dining. 

Also, Bridgton House of Pizza stops taking orders earlier than usual becasue the kitchen shuts down at 8 p.m., to stay in line with the state mandate.

“Everyone has to close early, honey,” Bill said.

 A newer establishment, Randy’s Wooster Street Pizza in Naples, is advertising take-out only hours on its Facebook Page. Like many places, people are advised to call ahead with orders. Also, staff can bring food out to the vehicle.

At first, Morning Glory Diner tested out take-out offerings. The staff offered window-service Friday and Saturday, from the morning through the early afternoon.

On Saturday, the owners posted on the business’ Facebook page their intention to close this week.

“We are sad to announce we will be closed Sunday [through] Thursday. We will revisit the situation and possibly open over the weekend for take out,” the entry said. “Thank you for all your continued support and understanding through uncertain times.”

Chute’s Cafe owner Kristin Chute also let customers know about the temporary closure through a Facebook post on March 18.

Chute put a positive spin on the closure, using it was a productive time period.

“Chute’s in Casco will be closed for 14 days following the governor’s announcement but we aren’t worried or upset! We are looking forward to using this time to repaint the kitchen, build some in and out dining room-kitchen doors, put up shelving, build a shed, rearrange kitchen equipment, install new equipment, and then we will be ready to rock the busy summer season,” Chute wrote.