Before Covid-19 spread across America, many people would find it strange if a restaurant or fast food chain suddenly altered their hours, closed down the inside of their store or just closed down altogether. However, today it is almost expected. Many businesses attempted to keep their customers as safe and non exposed as possible while also maintaining their services (closing early or opening later, keeping only drive-through/delivery/curbside services open etc.), while others closed their stores for a bit, or even indefinitely. What stores are staying open, which ones are staying closed, and when will their services go back to the way they were?

Many places (though they may have been closed at first) have open or have reopened all of the ordering services that they have. Trying to maintain normalcy and safety at the same time is a little more difficult, but for some restaurants it may be necessary, for customers and employees alike. Some of these places include IHOP, Bob Evans, Waffle House and St. Louis Bread Co. The availability of these services during this time may not be the safest choice, however it is a valid one as it benefits the needs of their consumers while also allowing their employees to keep working.

Some places, on the other hand, have closed one or more of their services due to the virus, mostly as a temporary precaution. In choosing to do this, many restaurants have found a way to keep their businesses running while also keeping their staff and customers as unexposed and safe as possible, including but not limited to: McDonald’s, Chick-fil-a, White Castle and Dairy Queen. It can be seen that all of the places listed are fast food restaurants, and although there are many normal restaurants that have closed dine-in or other services, it’s clear that being able to operate completely through drive-through has many advantages. Some of these establishments, including Chick-fil-a, have even considered doing business completely through drive-through from now on, as for some unknown reason their sales have been increasing more than ever before.

There happen to be a few places, unfortunately, that have closed down all of their ordering services for the time being, or even permanently. Some of these restaurants did this in order to keep their customers and their community as safe as possible, but sadly most of these places did this out of necessity, due to lack of financial support or other issues. A few of these restaurants include Kounter Kulture, Aubergine Cafe and several Steak n’ Shakes around the St. Louis area (although the Steak n’ Shake on W E Pearce Blvd is still open for drive-through). Although the amount of restaurants that are currently closed due to the virus has greatly decreased over time, places are sadly still being affected by it, and hopefully we can all take the proper precautions to ensure that our lives can go back to normal soon enough.

However these restaurants have chosen to react to the coronavirus, the actions they took (and are still taking) to keep their staff and community safe and secure are valid. Our society is still struggling to cope with our necessary social changes and limited information on Covid-19, and in the same respect businesses are still struggling to cope with their own necessary changes. Although scientists are still attempting to uncover more and more information on the virus each day, we have found several methods to stay safe and healthy. If we use these methods to keep each other safe, and understand these restaurants’ new open policies, we can grow to become more compassionate while also taking small steps back to our normal lives.