
Red Lobster, a similarly large full-service chain, mirrored Chili’s approach to safely reopening it established several system-wide safety measures while also taking local ordinances into account. Our team has been thoughtful in taking all precautionary measures to ensure we deliver on our commitment of protecting the safety of our team members and guests who we care deeply about.” “We’ve taken a systematic approach to reopening guided by the standards recommended by the CDC and customized by market or individual restaurant based on local mandates. “As we carefully open our dining rooms across the country in accordance with state guidelines, we will deliver on our commitment to our team members, guests, and communities to do so safely,” said Wyman Roberts, CEO of Chili’s parent company Brinker International, in an email to FSR. Seating was also limited in all restaurants as they reopened, with the exact number of tables dictated by local mandates. These included requiring face masks and gloves for team members at all times temperature checks for staff 6-feet social distancing in-store at all times contactless to-go, pickup, and curbside orders disinfecting stations at all restaurant entry points disinfection of all surfaces every 30 minutes and rigorous handwashing procedures for staff.

To execute a solid system-wide reopening, large brands must stay up-to-date with recommendations from institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Restaurant Association (NRA), as well as regulations laid down by local governments.Ĭhili’s, which has restaurants in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., put some system-wide practices in place to protect against in-store virus outbreaks.

National chains, however, have less flexibility in the process given their breadth. Smaller chains and groups-like GLU-are better positioned to nimbly pivot in the name of keeping guests and employees safe and healthy. Across the board, however, there’s an emphasis on safety as the top priority. This summer, restaurants have discovered that the answer to those questions is endlessly complex, differing from brand to brand. But, in recent months, all full-service groups and chains, including GLU, have faced the same question: How do you reopen at a time when dining rooms and bars can be viewed as vulnerable spaces? And how do you ensure your locations in various neighborhoods, cities, and states are following their own local codes? And what about the threat of future shutdowns from a possible second wave? Motivated by the near impossibility of operating successful nightclubs during the pandemic and its aftermath, GLU stuck out among full-service companies by reopening with an entirely new concept and model.
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“When all of the shutdowns happened, we said, ‘We have some free time now why don’t we start working on this?’ We launched the concept about three weeks after that.”

“We’d been talking about starting a brand like this for around six months, because our chef just has some really amazing chicken recipes,” says Derek Gibbons, owner and managing partner of GLU. But Hunnies Crispy Chicken-a new ghost kitchen brand based on proprietary, rice-flour fried chicken recipes from GLU’s executive chef, Chino Chang-opened in one of the nightclub’s kitchens. Per government regulations, its nightclubs remained closed, of course. Then, less than two months after the initial shutdowns, the group staged a reopening of sorts. Philadelphia’s GLU Hospitality Group opened its fourth nightclub concept, the intimate cocktail lounge Leda & the Swan, a mere six weeks before coronavirus-related bar and dining room shutdown orders rippled through the U.S.įor a couple of weeks after closing its nightclub venues, GLU didn’t see much activity in its kitchens aside from a skeleton crew who prepared and donated meals to hospitals.
