Peabody's Granite Coast To Transition To Good Old Taproom Times

PEABODY, MA — Granite Coast Brewing Company entered a whole new world — along with everyone else in the industry — at the onset of the coronavirus health crisis last spring.

The Peabody taproom is about to enter another one as it eases back to more normal brewery operations with coronavirus-related business restrictions set to expire statewide next week.

"We've been talking about it theoretically for a long time," Amy Luckiewicz, Granite Coast marketing manager and event coordinator, told Patch on Wednesday. "When the announcement came up on Monday we got together for an (operations) meeting (Tuesday) night to decide how we were actually going to do it.”

As strict as some of the regulations were throughout the 15 months of restrictions, there is perhaps just as much uncertainty throughout the industry about exactly what things should and will look like on May 29.

As local governments showing no signs they will enforce either an indoor mask ordinance — as some cities and towns in New Hampshire still have a month after their state mandate expired — it will be up to individual businesses to determine how they will treat masks, vaccination status, food-ordering requirements and social distancing.

At least at first, Luckiewicz said Granite Coast is planning a hybrid approach it hopes will allow customers the freedoms and relaxations they've missed for the past year, while also making sure patrons more apt to dip their toes in all the ways things used to be rather than jump all the way back into 2019 feel comfortable as well.

"We're going to be as pretty close to as wide open as our conscience will allow," Luckiewicz said.

That includes maintaining all of the sanitizing protocols Granite Coast installed throughout the pandemic and slowly transitioning to a more maskless environment for the 2-year-old taproom. Starting May 29, customers will not have to wear masks at any time while in the brewery, but the staff will continue to wear them for at least a little while longer.

"We have made the decision with the support of our staff to continue it for two weeks after (May 29)," she said. "People may be a little timid and this will give them a little more time to adjust to it even though our staff is 100 percent vaccinated so we don't have to wear them."

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that vaccinated people could safely go indoors without masks, businesses that do not want to become the "vaccination card police" will generally have to decide whether the maskless policy applies to everybody or nobody.

In Granite Coast's case, Luckiewicz said the brewery is going to "suggest" that those unvaccinated wear a mask when not eating or drinking, but allows that is fully on the honor system. She said there will be no "mask shaming" allowed toward the customers who prefer to continue to wear them while seated or walking around the taproom.

The other big change for traditional bars or breweries is the elimination of the food-ordering requirement when it comes to getting a pint. For the past 10 months, those without a kitchen had to either finagle some type of hot dog/pretzel/pizza situation or bring in food trucks each week like Granite Coast.

"We are going to gently ask our guests to continue to patronize our food vendors," said Luckiewicz, who has already booked the entire summer. "Without them, we wouldn't have made it through this past year."

On days when there is no food truck due to a cancellation, she said staff will encourage guests to order food from area restaurants, but will not require a food order with drink purchase regardless. The 90-minute time seating limit will also expire on May 29.

Luckiewicz said Granite Coast will continue to serve only seated patrons — no crowding around the bar even if it is allowed statewide — and will gradually bring in more tables to close the current 6-foot distance between them to more like 3 feet.

She said Granite Coast will also still take guests' phone numbers for possible contact tracing for now, and will not bring back the high top tables right at the bar right away. She added that the long, family-style tables the taproom had before the pandemic will remain in storage for the time being as well.

"I imagine the fall maybe we'll bring those back," she said, "when we feel our guests are more comfortable."

She said she understands what Granite Coast is doing may not be what other breweries, bars and restaurants do starting May 29 when — for the most part — they no longer have to do any of the coronavirus-related things they were forced to do for the past year.

"There is no right or wrong here," she said. "You do what's best for your business. Some locations and some cities were much more strict even during the regulations. We stuck to the regulations and we did that for a thousand reasons.

"Even in the last couple of months, we had people tell us when we told them they had to do something that other places weren't enforcing those rules. Well, you are welcomed to go back to them.

"We don't waiver based on what we feel is right with our consciences. It's not worth it for a $7.50 beer tab."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)