Pizza Today June 2021 - 28

Cinzzetti's Italian Feast, which has
locations in Colorado and Kansas,
reopened its restaurants with some
changes to the service. Plates are available at the table as diners are seated,
and at each food station. " Plateware
used to be in one spot, " says Bobby
Fitzgerald, cofounder and partner of
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Slatebridge
Restaurant Group, which owns Cinzzetti's and other restaurants. " Now we
have plateware throughout the dining
room, so people are not congregating. "
The biggest change is in the serving
utensils. Each guest takes a clean tong
from a basket, helps themselves to a
slice of pizza or other item, then drops
the tongs in a container to be washed.
" We had to invest in 3,000 pieces of
each utensil, " Fitzgerald says, adding
that the amount was quadruple the
usual utensil order. " We have a dedicated staff to rotate those out to clean.
You really have to stay ahead of it. "
Desserts are pre-plated in individual
servings, so customers take one of
those instead of scooping out the apple
crisp, tiramisu or other treat. Cinzzetti's made additional changes such
as installing Plexiglas barriers between
the kitchen and customers. Tables were
removed and put in storage, and they
might not come back even as capacity
limits change. " You have to think not
just about CDC guidelines but about
comfort, " Fitzgerald says. " People are
walking and carrying plates. You have
so many customers getting up and
going to the buffet, you've got to give
them space to walk by. "
Making sure guests are comfortable
is crucial as customers return to dining
inside restaurants. That's especially true
in buffet concepts, which media reports
hinted would not recover post-pandemic. In fact, Fitzgerald says, people
are very eager to return to buffets, and
reservations at the Northglenn, Colorado location were full for days when it
reopened this past March, after being
closed for a year. " The first thing you
have to remember when people come
back is they didn't starve while you were
closed, " he says. " They are going out for

the experience, so what can you do to
make sure they get that experience. "
Gloves and social distancing
For some, a fun experience means
arcade games. The Amazing Pizza
Machine in Omaha, Nebraska has a
buffet and a large selection of arcade
games. When the establishment had
to close for 16 weeks at the start of the
pandemic last year, it gave leadership
time to evaluate the various changes it
would have to make to accommodate
social distancing and other protocols.
The buffet reopened in July, and to
adhere to local mandates had to switch
temporarily to cafeteria-style service.
" You come down, tell us what you
want, and we serve it you, " says Allen
Wachter, executive vice president. " We
had to invest in lots of plexiglass and
wall off customers' ability to access their
own food. "
Eventually the local mandates
changed and The Amazing Pizza
Machine was able to revert to selfserve, with safety enhancements. The
buffet area has stanchions to control
the flow of traffic, and there are gloves
available for customers. " It's optional,
not required, " Wachter says. " We see a
lot of folks wearing them. " The silverware island is gone, and staff hands
out those items. Customers can help
themselves to fountain beverages, but
they must start a new glass each time,
instead of refilling their glass.
The buffet and arcade games are
popular, especially as families emerge
from pandemic isolation. Every other
game is turned off to encourage social
distancing, and there are hand sanitizer stations throughout the space. In
online post-visit surveys, customers
indicate that they appreciate the safety
measures. " We ask, 'Do you feel like the
COVID protocols kept your family safe
during your visit?' " Wachter says. " We
get 80 percent, or four out of five stars. "
Other self-serve
While buffets have been popular for
decades, one of the newer self-serve
variations is with wine and beer. The

owners of Fringe Pizza in Boulder,
Colorado, planned to open Fringe, A
Well-Tapped Eatery with a self-pour
draft system. The idea was that customers would check in, get a wrist band
that they would then scan at the taps to
open and meter the beverages. The customer would be charged by the ounce,
and could sample several beers and
wines. The eatery opened in October
last year, during the pandemic, so the
self-pour feature was put on hold. " We
have not been able to use it as intended, " says chef and owner Nate Rajotte.
" We have traditional table service,
where someone orders beer or wine. "
Rajotte says the local health department did not allow the restaurant to
offer the self-pour system. When that
changes, some customers might still
feel uncomfortable helping themselves
to wine and beer. " We will have to offer
some type of hybrid, " he says.
Other items, such as salt, pepper and
cheese shakers are not on the tabletops.
That's partly out of safety and partly
because the food is seasoned in the
kitchen. " It was always my intention
that we don't have condiments on the
table, " Rajotte says. " But if someone
asks for grated Parmesan or Calabrian
chilis we give them some in a ramekin. "
Others say they made some changes,
big and small. Sam & Louie's Italian
Restaurant and New York Pizzeria,
with locations in Nebraska, Kansas,
Montana, Iowa and Colorado, transitioned to carry-out and delivery at
locations in larger cities, but locations
in small towns maintained a strong
dine-in business. " We removed the
shakers and provided packets for Parmesan, pepper flakes, salt and pepper, "
says Michael Nolan, president. " We are
hoping that as vaccines are administered everything will return to the way
it was very soon. " n

NORA CALEY is a freelance writer who
covers small business, finance and lifestyle
topics.

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