It鈥檚 early evening at Lindey鈥檚, and the German Village restaurant is easing into the dinner rush. A pair of women by the window are swirling white wine, chatting over dinner as the masked wait staff buzz back and forth across the room.
It鈥檚 a far cry from , when the restaurant was anxiously preparing to reopen its dining room. Now, this is a typical weeknight, but it鈥檚 clear things aren鈥檛 quite back to normal.
Grant Cassidy, who heads up catering and sales, points out the dark wood-framed plexiglass dividers set up between tables.
鈥淕ives you the nice privacy, totally blocks you off from the table next to you, but it still allows you to see around the restaurant,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e wanted to try to keep it classy, you know.鈥�
Cassidy expects those will stick around for the rest of the year, regardless of what happens with the virus or vaccines.
Restaurants were one of the first industries to really feel the pinch of COVID-19 restrictions. Ohio's stay-at-home order last March shuttered dining rooms for more than a month, and once they were allowed to reopen, many restaurants saw a dramatic reduction in traffic.
Margins are always tight in food service, and according to the Ohio Restaurant Association, two-thirds of Ohio restaurants don鈥檛 expect to break even this year. They estimate one in five restaurants have already had to close temporarily or permanently.
Cassidy says Lindey鈥檚 has had to do a lot of improvising to keep business moving.
鈥淥ur patio, we had it open the entire winter,鈥� Cassidy explains. 鈥淲e kind of did a rebranding out there and called it Lindey鈥檚 Lodge. Thousands of white lights, firepits, heaters at every table. Something that we would not normally do. Normally, that patio would shut down right around Halloween.鈥�
They鈥檝e also jumped into delivery with both feet鈥攔elying on Lindey鈥檚 employees instead of a third party company. Cassidy admits the road was a bit bumpy, especially early on, but they learned quickly, and the staff has come through intact.
鈥淲e were able to keep everyone throughout and keep jobs,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o business for us is not what it was, but it鈥檚 definitely still been good for us, and we like to say about as good as can possibly be at this moment.鈥�
Over the last year, Lindey鈥檚 has made a series of big swings that have largely paid off. But many restaurants in the state weren鈥檛 so lucky. Central Ohio lost La Scala, a family owned Italian restaurant that was a Dublin mainstay for nearly 50 years.
William Lalli worked there from the beginning and bought it in 2009. As a kid, his son Nick was on potato duty every week after Saturday morning cartoons. Once he grew up, Nick joined the business as a general manager.
Nick Lalli was expecting last year to be a big one.
鈥淩olling into 鈥�20 it was going to be an amazing year; 20 was just the magic number to get married in, it seemed to be, Lalli says.
Lalli says the restaurant had more than 130 weddings booked鈥攁lmost three per week. But with COVID-19, that chunk of their business evaporated, and with many people working from home, daytime traffic fell off too.
鈥淪o we cut lunch out just to cut down on payroll,鈥� Lalli explains. 鈥淵ou even start to minimize some dishes that necessarily didn鈥檛 sell that well, that you were going to have to carry certain products on, so you started to streamline.鈥�
Despite those efforts, Lalli says they couldn鈥檛 make the math work, and by about August, it was clear many of those large bookings weren鈥檛 coming back.
But COVID-19 didn鈥檛 just cost Lalli the restaurant 鈥� it cost him his dad.
鈥淢y mom, who wasn鈥檛 feeling well either, called the doctor, they got their COVID test on Father鈥檚 Day, and that night got the phone call they were both positive,鈥� Lalli says. 鈥淎nd by the evening hours, my father couldn鈥檛 breathe. So my mother called the squad and that was that, because he was intubated and he never came out.鈥�
La Scala was a second child to William Lalli, so Nick tried to keep it going as long he could. In October, they had to shut their doors, but the family hasn鈥檛 exactly thrown in the towel yet.
In 2019, the Lallis bought a second restaurant in Powell called Vittoria. Business is still up and down because of the pandemic, but weekends are solid, and with nice weather around the corner, Lalli is optimistic Vittoria鈥檚 doors will stay open.
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