MADISON (WKOW) -- Businesses across Dane County can now allow more people inside, after health officials loosened restrictions.
Starting Wednesday, restaurants and bars can expand to 75 percent capacity. That's up from only being able to host half the people they'd normally be able to serve.
Madison mainstay The Laurel Tavern on Monroe Street has recently seen a surge in people coming out again for in-person food and drinks.
"You really see a lot more people coming in now. And it's got to be due to the vaccination. People are more comfortable," said long-time employee Lisa Strub.
Strub says it's great to see the regulars back, but it's been a challenge to juggle the extra customers, takeout orders and social distancing.
"We're trying to gauge, because we still get a ton of call ins," she said. "And then we have our customers that are coming in live. So we just try and do the best we can and I think we've done a really good job doing that."
The new expansion won't do much for their services, though. Right now, half the tables in the dining room have to stay unseated, to keep seating six feet apart. So, that means they really can't expand beyond 50 percent capacity.
It's the same story at most restaurants 27 News has talked with in recent weeks. Food Fight leaders say the increased capacity won't do much for small to medium-sized restaurants, like the 20 restaurants that company runs in the area. But, the Streatery program has helped, and will continue to help, restaurants get through the restrictions now that the weather is warming.
"We’re feeling good about the sales outlook this summer and we hope as people continue to get vaccinated, we will be able to 'return' to normal in the next few months," CEO Caitlyn Suemnicht told 27 News in a statement.
The Streatery program has helped keep Pizza Brutta on Monroe Street running. Owner Derek Lee has taken a different approach as restrictions have loosened in the past year.
"We have done a very good takeout business during this. And so we just didn't want to interrupt that," he said.
So, the restaurant still isn't doing indoor dining just yet, but is welcoming customers to its parking lot patio, now allowed because of the Streatery program.
Lee says one of the biggest challenges still lingering right now is staffing. He calls it a crisis, with few people available to come back to work.
"I always said that food services is kind of a job that people always could fall back on. And it was always there for you, whether you were going through college or in between jobs, and then it wasn't. And so now we're in the situation where all those people who kind of depended on these jobs have moved on, or they're still staying at home until it's safer," Lee told 27 News.
But, now that the team is fully vaccinated, they're feeling safer serving up pizzas in person again.
"We plan on getting open soon. It's just a matter of putting all the pieces together," he said. "We've had a great group of customers here, of loyal customers, that really helped us get through this pandemic."
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'Do the best we can': Restaurants still limited even as restrictions loosen - WKOW
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