Pizza Today - February 2020 - 28

licenses. "They can get finicky about
how alcohol is moved from an indoor
area to an outdoor area," Stannard says.
"If you're walking from an enclosed
area across a public area such as a sidewalk, you're walking through what they
call an uncontrolled environment."
Permits, zoning and other requirements vary from city to city. For example, Denver restaurants need a Tables,
Chairs and Railings (TCR) permit for
seating areas adjacent to the establishment. There is an initial processing fee,
an annual fee, a field inspection by a
city inspector, and the restaurant has
to have a Certificate of Insurance. The
railings have to define the space and
be bolted into the ground. The tables
and chairs must not leave the space and
create an obstacle for people walking
down the street or using wheelchairs.
Even restaurants that have space that
is not in the right-of-way have to get
certain permits. CRUSH Pizza + Tap
in Denver turned an empty space in
the front corner of the building into a
patio. "We did have to get construction
permits in order to have a patio," says
owner Jason McGovern. He also had
to get a permit to serve beer, wine and
liquor on the patio. "We had to make
sure we have a secure patio with a gate,
with signage that says, 'No alcohol
beyond this point.'"
Some cities get more specific about
sidewalk seating. In New York City, a
restaurant that operates a portion of
its business on the sidewalk must have
a Sidewalk Café License for one of
three types of sidewalk cafes: enclosed
sidewalk café, unenclosed sidewalk café
or a small unenclosed sidewalk café, a
single row of tables next to the building. In Chicago, the Public Way Use
Unit of the Department of Business
Affairs and Consumer Protection issues
Sidewalk Café Permits that have ninemonth term, March 1 to December 1,
and must be applied for every year.
In Seattle, where the wood-burning
oven pizza restaurant Bar del Corso
opened in 2011, businesses have to
apply for a permit from the Depart2 8 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / F E B R UA R Y 2 0 2 0

ment of Transportation. "As long as
there is adequate space for foot traffic
they will issue you a permit, upon
which you have to pay yearly fees," says
chef/owner Jerry Corso.
Bar del Corso also has a patio in
back, which Corso negotiated for with
the landlord before signing the lease.
"We built our patio after we opened,
but that is because we had the space
out the back door," he says. "The patio
is on the property, therefore the city
has nothing to do with it."
Some cities make it possible for
operators to add outdoor seating even
if there isn't enough space on the sidewalk. Seattle has a program in which
businesses can convert on-street parking spaces into parklets or streateries.
Philadelphia permits parklets through
its Streets Department. Los Angeles
and Santa Monica, California have
tested the parklet concept. Setting up
tables in parking spaces is supposed to
encourage pedestrian traffic, improve
the aesthetics of a block and enhance
neighborhoods.
Many municipalities see the benefits of outdoor seating, and so might
landlords. "Most good landlords will
want you to be successful," says Brent
LaCount, principal at Design Collective, a design and architectural firm in
Columbus, Ohio. "A patio can significantly increase your sales by providing extra seating as well as creating
a vibrancy to the exterior that drives
customers."
LaCount adds that because most
patios are not considered leasable areas,
the outdoor seating can significantly

increase the eatery's bottom line without increasing expenses. Leasable area
refers to the total enclosed floor space
designed for the exclusive use of the
tenant.
Restaurant owners should not pay
rent on outdoor patios, says Stannard,
from Bacchus. "The mistake I see
people make is they calculate the rent
and they include the patio as part of
their lease," he says. "They pay rent for
12 months, but in some places they can
use the patio only six months."
Stannard says for Pizza Antica leases,
the restaurants pay a small percentage of patio revenues to the landlord.
"We're not paying for something we
don't use," he says. "For the landlord
the advantage is when the patio is in
use they participate in the sales." When
projecting sales figures, operators
should estimate only the amount they
will earn with the inside tables, and
consider the outdoor tables to be extra.
Also, he says, don't forget to assign
enough staff to the outside seats, and
also set up a convenient server station.
If a permit is denied, try offering
a new plan, with fewer or narrower
tables. Every jurisdiction has its own
way of handling right-of-way issues,
construction permits and liquor licensing related to outdoor seating. Landlords have their own issues, so the key
is to handle landlord negotiations and
city permits upfront. n
NORA CALEY is a freelance writer who
covers small business, finance and lifestyle
topics.

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Pizza Today - February 2020

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