How has COVID-19 impacted Charlottesville's food scene?
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed Charlottesville's restaurant and food scene. The day-to-day experience of consumers and workers is now defined by face masks, social distancing, and an emphasis on alternatives to traditional indoor dining, such as takeout, delivery, curbside service, and outdoor seating.
Innovation in services is critical if business want to survive this unprecedented crisis (and indeed, there are some businesses in Albemarle County and Charlottesville that have closed during the pandemic). At the same time, Charlottesville's appearance in top rankings of restaurants per capita among U.S. cities is a double-edged sword: the pandemic's impacts on how people use space and purchase food threatens large numbers of workers in the local community. Additionally, there are inequities in how many (often low-income) workers in the food service industry put themselves at risk during the pandemic while their higher-income neighbors are able to enjoy these services from the privileged position of working from home or having expendable income to use on dining options.
The map below offers a look at how several Charlottesville-area businesses adapted to the pandemic and changed their interactions with consumers.
(Click each headline on the left side of the map to zoom to different locations)
Bodo's Bagels on Preston Avenue (Photo: Tim Dodson)
Bodos Bagels, a local restaurant chain, opened drive-thru services at two of its locations (Preston Avenue and Route 29). This is the first time in 32 years that the restaurant has used its drive-thru windows. While the service has proven to be quite successful, it has had some adverse impacts on traffic, particularly at the Preston location. Bodo's has utilized signage directing customers to a second drive-thru line so that lines do not clog up the surrounding streets.
Pick-up space at Barracks Road (Photo: Tim Dodson)
Barracks Road Shopping Center has designated numerous parking spaces outside its stores for pick-up services. The space and accompanying sign pictured above are outside of Hot Cakes, and similar spaces exist outside restaurants in other parts of the center like Greenberry's Coffee and Five Guys.
Expanded outdoor seating off Fontaine Avenue. (Photo: Tim Dodson)
Many restaurants expanded outdoor dining spaces into parking lots, sidewalks, and other public-facing spaces. Sometimes the arranges are as simple as places tables and chairs outdoors; in other instances, the outdoor seating has lights, fire pits, and other features that enhance the ambience. The photo above was taken in the parking lot in front of Guadalajara and Atlas Coffee on Fontaine Avenue.
Signage reminding customers of mask requirements outside Wegmans (Photo: Tim Dodson)
A statewide mask mandate has been in effect for much of the pandemic, requiring consumers and workers to wear face coverings in indoor spaces and congregate settings to slow the spread of COVID-19. The mandate includes grocery stores, restaurants, and various other stores. There are some exceptions , notably while "actively eating or drinking." Although it appears most places adhere to mask requirements, the Virginia Department of Health does receive reports of alleged violations.
Wineworks Extended, on Avon Street, has a large tent area (Photo: Tim Dodson )
Several restaurants offer outdoor dining and drinking options with large tent areas. Wineworks Extended has a tent at its location along Avon Street. Tents have also popped up along the Downtown Mall. Local governments inspect and permit these sites. Public health officials have raised some concerns about the risks of dining in "outdoor" tents, especially if they are enclosed by walls and/or have poor airflow. Such tent setups carry similar risks to indoor dining. On the other hand, tents that are complete open to air and have better circulation may be safer.
DoorDash is one of several companies offering home delivery for local restaurants. My roommate recently ordered contactless delivery of Five Guys. (Photo: Tim Dodson)
With people asked to limit their trips out of the home, the pandemic has produced a "delivery boom." With online services like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Postmates, consumers can easily order from restaurants. Many eateries also offer their own delivery services too.
The labor practices of major food delivery companies are coming under increasing scrutiny during the pandemic. Workers have raised concerns over low pay, tip disputes, and a lack of benefits (like health insurance).
As vaccination rates steadily grow, it remains to be seen which of these adaptations will stay in place and how the pandemic will permanently change the relationships between consumers and restaurants, grocery stores, and other food suppliers. It will also be interesting to see how the built environment adapts to increasing reliance on curbside service, online ordering, and other offerings that greatly expanded over the past year.
Will these changes be permanent?
It seems likely that several of these changes will become a fixed part of the consumer experience well after the pandemic. While the public will likely to return to indoor dining and grocery shopping experiences when the pandemic recedes, nearly a year of easy delivery and curbside options will lead businesses to continue to offer these services.
Another major change during the pandemic was a modification to state regulations that allowed restaurants to offer to-go cocktails and mixed drinks. At Guadalajara off Fontaine Avenue, for example, customers can order margaritas with their takeout dinner orders. Assuming that this change is not linked to any major public health or safety issues, this may provide another takeout income stream for businesses trying to rebuild after COVID-19.
At the individual firm level, some businesses embraced innovative ideas during the pandemic that may permanently change their operations. On any given morning, a line of cars can be found at the Bodos' two drive-thru locations in Charlottesville. Even after Bodo's resumes its indoor dining options, the drive-thru seems like a popular addition that it's now well-equipped to handle, so perhaps a modified drive-thru will continue in the post-pandemic era.
Changes in the built environment, particularly how automobiles occupy space, will be worth keeping an eye on. Will grocery stores, for example, devote increasing amounts of parking to picking up online orders? Will designated lanes for curbside pickup, such as those that popped up at Barracks Road, become a permanent fixture? Might there be more parking spaces at apartment complex and businesses specifically devoted to drivers picking up or dropping off orders for major online services? What kinds of changes might occur on public property versus those controlled by private owners? How do local regulations adapt to these changes?
Part of the street at Barracks Road Shopping Center was converted into outdoor seating. Swipe the picture to see how the space transformed (Photos: Google Maps for first image; Tim Dodson for second)
Who benefits and who pays the costs?
Consumers have largely reaped the benefits of increased convenience while some corporations have benefitted from increased consumer demand for these services.
But who bears the costs of these adaptations?
Companies like Wegmans quickly adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic with services like curbside pickup (Photo: Tim Dodson)
An obvious answer is the workers in food service who do not have the option to do their job remotely and assume increased risk of exposure to COVID-19 while working what are often low-wage jobs. Moreover, many of these employees, particularly those working for delivery apps, are considered independent contractors and do not have access to the same benefits as a more traditional job. If an employee contracted COVID-19, for example, they may not have the resources to receive proper care and treatment.
"How Restaurant Workers Are Surviving The Pandemic" (Courtesy CNBC)
Some locally-owned businesses also took on significant costs (in terms of time and money) when it came to adaptation that may have been relatively small for a large corporation like Wegmans that could rapidly adapt and deploy resources to change its operations. In response to this situation and racial justice organizing, there's have been efforts to promote Black-owned local businesses, for example.
What are the equity implications?
These adaptations have underscored that the pandemic produced different realities for people: those who have disposable income can enjoy many of these expanded services, but these services rely on the labor of people who have had to assume risks for themselves and families. How does this affect the social fabric of Charlottesville and economic inequality?
Writing from a national perspective, the New York Times' Emily Badger observed the following at the end of last year:
"... people who could afford it retreated into smaller, more secure worlds during the pandemic. And that has made it harder to see all the inequality that worsened this year: the unemployment that soared even as the stock market did, the eviction threats that grew as home prices hit new highs.
In another way, however, the inequality already present in the economy became more visible than ever this year. With delivery services, restaurant couriers and personal shopping apps, low-wage workers were now — in far larger numbers — coming right to the doorstep of the well-off. Standing there in masks, their economic precarity was exposed."
It's not only delivery services to doorsteps; this phenomenon extends to employees bringing food out to the personal spaces of cars and the people who hold out the credit card reader at drive-thrus.
One of the big questions here is how should communities prioritize their resources in adapting to the pandemic? On the one hand, leaders in business and in local government want people to have jobs, so it makes sense to take steps like quickly processing permits for outdoor seating areas in public spaces and perhaps amending local parking regulations to allow for more loading zones. But there are also families suffering in terms of finances, wellbeing, and housing security, and the rapid responses of their communities to business needs might feel out of touch to their everyday lives.
