As Philadelphia restaurants wait in anticipation for the ban on outdoor dining service to lift, some suburban eateries are seeing a bump in business from the added revenue stream over the last few days, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports.
Many regional eateries are rolling out modified outdoor dining as the last of Pennsylvania’s counties — including Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware — moved into Gov. Tom Wolf’s yellow phase of Covid-19 recovery on June 5. Among state guidelines is the caveat that outdoor dining areas can accommodate no more than 50% occupancy and tables must also be spaced 6 feet apart. Dine-in service at concepts with existing outdoor seating in Philadelphia can resume June 12, city officials say, but many spots in the surrounding counties jumped on the chance beginning last weekend.
In King of Prussia, family-run Italian restaurant Peppers by Amedeo's opened its outdoor area last Saturday following last-minute approval from the township. The option easily doubled the concept’s business, which has been running at about 10% of pre-pandemic numbers since adopting a takeout-only model when the coronavirus shutdown began in March, said co-owner Mary Keenan.
Peppers by Amadeo’s expanded its outdoor seating while following social distancing guidelines. Pre-pandemic, the restaurant had six tables on its patio that accommodated 24 guests. With the new setup, the restaurant removed two of those tables and is utilizing its side parking lot to accommodate nine additional tables, each outfitted with solid plastic dividers upwards of 6-feet tall.
Read more about restaurants in King of Prussia at PBJ.com.
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