Arizona Bar, Restaurant Owners Mixed On Ducey Reopening Decision

PHOENIX, AZ — Bar and restaurant owners across the state expressed a mixed slate of emotions over Gov. Doug Ducey's sweeping set of reopening orders Thursday.

For bar owners like Rodney Hu, Ducey's announcement that bars could reopen and would not need to enforce capacity constraints was welcome news.

Hu, whose family has run Yucca Tap Room in Tempe since it opened near Southern and Mill more than 40 years ago, also admitted that he has mixed emotions about what the added capacity could mean in what appears to be the final stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think I’m ecstatic about the bar and business end of stuff," Hu told Patch. "I’m torn, just because of the health politics that are playing around with all of the health stuff."

Hu added that he's happy that bars will finally get to join restaurants in opening their doors, as the latter have been open with capacity constraints since May.

"But as a business owner and the way that Gov. Ducey discriminated against bars, it’s a huge bar owner win, I feel," Hu added.

Among the changes that Ducey announced on Thursday were an end to requiring local approval of events with more than 50 people, phasing out locally issued mask requirements, allowing bars to resume normal operating levels, and ending all capacity constraints on restaurants and other businesses.

Prior to Thursday's orders, which went into effect immediately, bars had been shuttered unless they had an operating kitchen, while restaurants were allowed to be at 100 percent capacity, though with 6 feet of separation between customers.

Over in Phoenix, the takeaway from Thursday's announcement was much the same for Melrose Curve bar, The Thunderbird Lounge.

Jeremiah Gratza, who owns Thunderbird, said his business is ready to return to some semblance of normalcy after a year of uncertainty.

"We're excited. We're looking forward to getting back to business as usual, but still doing it in a safe manner," Gratza said. "All of our staff is already all scheduled for the vaccine, and now we can focus on running our business instead of policing people and making sure that they have a mask on when they walk to the bathroom."

Gratza said the COVID-19 pandemic deprived Thunderbird, which opened its doors in April 2019, of holding the bar's one-year anniversary celebration.

The pandemic also forced the bar to furlough its entire staff and close its doors.

"We've all known each other for almost 20 years," Gratza said. "So at this point we're family, and some of those people have kids and everyone's got a mortgage and car payments and it was tough, especially when we got to see that other businesses got to remain open like restaurants or open before us."

Gratza said that Thunderbird's outlook has improved drastically of late, with the midtown bar leaning on its extensive back patio to ease customers' concerns about coming back to bars that they frequented before the pandemic.

"So for us, things aren't going to change too much, considering that we have access to 2,000 plus square feet of an outdoor patio, and our inside is really only 1,000 square feet," Gratza said.

"It's just going to make our lives a little easier, not having to police when people go to the bathroom or come up to the bar to order a drink, or if we have DJ's playing and people want to get up and dance, we're not going to get in trouble for that. We're not going to get shut down for that."

Not everyone is celebrating

About 115 miles southeast of Thunderbird lies Tucson's fabled Hotel Congress, which opened to the public in 1919.

The venue has enforced strict social distancing policies since the pandemic's start and said in a statement Thursday that its policies will not change anytime soon.

"We've all worked so hard to fight this pandemic, and we can finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel," the venue's statement reads. "That's why we're staying the course we've set with requiring masks, social distancing, and limiting capacity at Hotel Congress to protect our guests and staff.

"We are patient, and we look forward to reaching that light, but the only way we'll get there is by continuing to follow the science and advice of our public health experts.

"We're proud to be a place where you can visit and feel safe. Your support has meant the world to us this last year. Thank you for masking up and being a part of Hotel Congress' 102-year story."

Also staying the course is Dave Andrea, who owns Scottsdale-based bar and restaurant Brat Haus.

Andrea told Patch on Thursday that he understands why Thursday's rollbacks are important to bar and restaurant owners, as it means they'll hopefully be able to recoup some of the money they've lost over the past calendar year.

He also understands that customers won't return en masse at the governor's stroke of a pen, given the anxiety surrounding the COVID-19 virus.

"I think it will be a few more months before once people get vaccinated," Andrea said. "Because the governor can say whatever he wants, it's not going to change people's fears overnight. But I think the people that are out, have been out, the last few months are going to continue to come out. I don't know when the other people are going to feel comfortable coming out and whether our policy is going to matter to them or not, whether they're going to frequent our establishment, if our staff isn't wearing masks. But right now to have the staff keep the mask on until we get a little gauge of what the customer wants."

Andrea said several COVID-19 inspired changes, like increased sanitation of Brat Haus locations and using QR codes to access menus, will remain long after the pandemic ends.

"We just made a lot of changes, but a lot of them that are going to stick with us even after this is over," Andrea said. "And it's made us better operators. I'm really sort of proud of how we've sort of pulled through it. We couldn't have done it without sort of city, state and federal government subsidies and help, but we definitely made it through the other side and I'm happy about that and think it's all good from here."

For Gratza, Thursday's announcement means the Thunderbird's long fight to stay ahead of the virus is finally entering its home stretch.

No longer does he need to change and adapt the bar's daily operating routine to keep up with the state's orders. Now both he and his staff can go back to doing what they do best.

"As things slowly started to change and adapt, so did we. When they said, 'OK, you can open up, but at a certain capacity,' we figured out a way to do it," Gratza said. "When they said, 'OK, you need to have masks and hand sanitizer for everyone,' we went out and got masks. We basically did whatever it took to stay in business and fight for our business. Now we're just glad that the fighting's over, that we made it through to the other side.

"We don't have to fight tooth and nail to keep our business open anymore, we can just focus on actually running our business."

For Hu, the message is to make sure to support your neighborhood establishments in the coming months.

"Those guys already got to survive and do things. We didn’t. So I would say support your small business owner, support your small business community," Hu said. "And if they take anything away from this, obviously that we feel the same way. I have lost family members as well, so I want you to only do it if you feel safe and you feel comfortable coming out."