Restaurant owner offers glimpse of what bars and restaurants may look like after reopening from coronavirus shutdowns

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Montana bar owner on reopening after coronavirus shutdown, ‘I hope that it picks up soon’

The owner of the Sip ’n Dip Lounge talks reopening guidelines for her bar and restaurant in Great Falls, Montana after six weeks of being shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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As restaurants and bars begin to reopen to sit-down customers this week, most are wondering just how different the patronizing experience will be.

In Great Falls, Mont., Sandra Thares, the owner of the O’Haire Motor Inn, a hotel, restaurant, and bar, said “It’s been really rough” being shut down for over six weeks.

“It's been difficult to find the money to keep paying staff. Thankfully, we got the PBP (Personal Business Protection) money last week so we can start bringing staff back,” Thares, who had to dip into her retirement money during the shutdown, told Fox News.

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The O’Haire Motor Inn has been in business since 1962, and some of the staff have worked there for a “double-digit” amount of years, Thares said. When asked how they were ensuring customers were safe, Thares described what she had been instructed to do by Montana Department of Health and Human Services.

“Each day the employees have to do a self-health assessment and sign off on that, and we had to put in hand sanitizing stations and training for our staff on what to do if you notice someone showing symptoms, understand that you can't come to work if you have symptoms. And really, it's just keeping the place really, really, really clean," said Thares.

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Rene Remmel is a bartender at the Sip and Dip, which is the restaurant and bar portion of the O’Haire Motor Inn, and she said that bar capacity has been cut by 50 percent to keep in line with the health department's guidelines.

“There’s no sitting at the bars, there’s no standing at the bars, everyone has to have a seat. Drinks and food have to be served to patrons in chairs,” Remmel told Fox News.

Even though things may be different than usual business, Thares said: “At this point, it’s nice to be able to just do something.”

“We need the people to come out, eat, drink and keep everything going," Remmel added.