Not so fast: Heat dampens reopening for businesses
Ten Pin CEO Cale Russell behind the bar at the restaurant’s Tap House & Restaurant on Wednesday, the first day of the statewide lifting of certain COVID-19 restrictions.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald
MOSES LAKE — It was the first day in nearly a year-and-a-half area restaurants could operate at full capacity.
And yet, the heat marred the formal reopening of the state’s economy for some.
“Our AC went out,” said Mikala Kohl, manager of the Red Door Cafe in downtown Moses Lake. “We’re trying to stay cool, but we’re not very busy.”
Still, the Red Door Cafe had all its tables out — a first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020 prompted a series of closures that, at one point, had restaurants like Red Door entirely reliant on take-out business and forced restaurant owners and managers to limit seating capacity and socially distance tables.
The lifting of most of the state’s COVID-19 restrictions on businesses was effective at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Removed were limits on nearly all indoor and outdoor activities statewide except for indoor events with 10,000 or more attendees.
The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions was welcomed by many business owners, but some said they were also wary.
“Well, we’re going back to full capacity, and I’m certain our hours will be readjusted,” said Cale Russell, CEO of Ten Pin Territories, which owns Ten Pin Brewing, Tap House & Restaurant, Ten Pin Inn & Suites, Papa’s Casino, Lake Bowl & Arcade and Porterhouse Steakhouse. “It’s a new territory for everybody and there’s no model for how this goes.”
The end of restrictions means the bowling alley can return to full capacity, and that’s an exciting thing, Russell said. But even with the return of “business as usual” — though after more than a year of restrictions, he’s not sure what that means anymore — Russell said Ten Pin isn’t in a “mad dash” to make any changes.
It also doesn’t help his company, like a lot of businesses, is having a hard time finding employees, Russell said.
“We’re in such uncharted territory, it’s hard to know what to do. We reduced menus, tried to control costs, but it’s been difficult,” he said. “So we tread lightly, seeing what we can do to keep people working.”
And like the Red Door downtown, Russell said Ten Pin was having trouble keeping the place cool, as the mercury topped the century mark.
“I’ve got four guys on the roof dealing with the air conditioners right now,” he said. “We can do 100 or 105, but 115 is a whole ‘nother animal.”