I was thinking about this today while DC got a little snow. Drinking by a fire while the snow falls or under a patio is amazing. It is peaceful, the city is quieter and we won’t have many snow days per winter with the climate warming. Taking advantage of days like this is important. Obviously 2020 is one big missed opportunity for most, but even in a pandemic there is opportunity to have fun.
For many people, dining outside (I still personally avoid indoors) has been that opportunity. I was tempted to try and find a place to snow drink, but you know, its Wednesday and work unfortunately got in the way. In fact a busy evening prevented me from enjoying a night out, and that is when I got annoyed at the 10pm restrictions.
If the restaurant is following safe COVID guidelines why are we forcing them to close their doors early. We all know that the whole service industry is struggling, and the city is forcing them to close during potential earning hours. I think the city should have done the reverse. Places used to serve till 2 or 3am, why not let them go all night if they wanted to! People needing a pick me up pandemic, sure swing by at 4am for a drink. If I am sitting outside, what difference does it make that it suddenly turned 10pm. Your making the restaurant lose out of the potentially hundreds of dollars that groups spend on a Saturday nights.
I understand that their are potential downsides, but for the most part I think this would help the restaurants that could make it work. Many are currently being run solely by management and owners. They can’t work 24 hours though, so it would create opportunities to bring staff back. It also could space out the time people were there. Instead of getting a dinner rush because people know last call is at 9, patrons willing to go out later will spread the rush out. The options are endless, and the city could lean on it, instead of hamstringing the industry. People shouldn’t have to hibernate all winter when you can still have fun safely!