Dine In At Ridgewood Restaurant's Heated Greenhouses This Winter

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — As restaurant experts in the Garden State project a bleak road ahead, adaptable business owners are doing everything in their power to turn the odds in their favor.

New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association's president and chief executive officer Marilou Halvorsen said during a virtual event with congressional members Tuesday that 36 percent of hospitality businesses do not expect to survive the next year without federal help.

Paul Vagianos, who owns the Ridgewood restaurant It's Greek To Me, does not plan to be included in that list.

That starts this winter, Vagianos told Patch through email, as the restaurant has rolled out their "Greenhouse Dining" option, which allows diners to eat outside in spite of the cold New Jersey temperatures.

Complete with holiday decorations, Vagianos said the new, heated, outdoor dining option will allow a reprieve from expected cabin fever as the weather gets colder and colder.

For months, area restaurants and business experts across the state have dealt with the concerns surrounding what the winter would mean for the service industry if indoor dining faced limitations.

Vagianos said at his restaurant, the spring and summer months actually proved informative when it came to how his business would need to shift to survive. Still, there are challenges.

"Outdoor dining, delivery and non-contact pick up are the name of the game going forward," said Vagianos. "We learned from the spring and summer that people have no place to go, making the demand for safe outdoor dining insatiable. As the cold weather has set in, a heated outdoor dining option is absolutely necessary, despite the fact that it is incredibly difficult to achieve in a COVID-19 safe setting."

So Vagianos planned and researched for four months before the greenhouses became a reality.

Not only will the greenhouses provide the outdoor setting people crave, but there are also new safety protocols in place to insure the eight greenhouses are up to code.

Customers have responded positively to his attention for detail, and new initiatives, Vagianos reported.

"Providing safe dining options, as we have from the beginning with both non-contact Grab&Go pick up and expanded outdoor dining over the summer has made all the difference," he said. "Our job has been to provide [customers] with that and they have responded with a resounding affirmation of our goals."

Vagianos is confident that his restaurant will make it out of the pandemic a better business, and is happy with the new elements he can provide to customers.

"These are things we could have been doing all along, but COVID-19 forced us to rethink our business model and we learned from it, as so many different types of businesses have. Post COVID-19, our business model will be stronger than ever because of it." he said.

Many other restaurant owners aren't feeling so certain.

In addition to the projected business closures, Halvorsen said businesses expect to lay off more employees, and urged officials to pass some form of aid, even if it doesn't mean all of their goals.

"Please do not let perfect stand in the way of getting something done before the end of the new year," she said.

So, like most optimistic business owners, Vagianos has high hopes for the future, but understands what his community will lose as businesses continue to close up shop.

"I know many restaurants and their owners, losing them is like losing a piece of me. They make up the character of a town as much as the schools, the tree lined streets, or the proximity to Manhattan," he said.

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