SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

[Taylor]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

I really like their soups 

Now that I'm thinking about it, "Soup Plantation" is kind of a racist name.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Any time I've been dragged to soup plantation I've felt like whoever got the idea for it served time in prison or new someone who did and thought meatless meals based around soup, salad and bread were a moneymaker.  To be fair to them it worked out quite well for the most part but as a meat eater it always held little appeal to me.  I'd rather drop $7.99 or whatever it is at Round Table for all I can eat pizza and salad as opposed to paying more for soup plantation.  

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

https://abc7.com/business/covid-downturn-souplantation-to-permanently-close-all-locations/6163862/

That sucks

this is awful. it was a good restaurant, especially for vegetarians. i never left there hungry.

i think we've seen the end of serve-yourself restaurants and lunch time buffets. 

we have a yogurtland by our house and it's terrific. not sure their current business model of allowing patrons to go from machine to machine to serve themselves will continue to work. same for their toppings bar.

[m0nkey]

I loved that place too.  Good chicken noodle soup, clam chowder, and the asian salad.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Just now, Tank said:

we have a yogurtland by our house and it's terrific. not sure their current business model of allowing patrons to go from machine to machine to serve themselves will continue to work. same for their toppings bar.

Have you been there since the stay in place order?  The one near us limits the amount of customers inside and the kids working there make your yogurt for you with your direction (more/less, those toppings) while wearing a mask and gloves. 

[St1ck]

6 minutes ago, Jason said:

I really like their soups 

How is their pozole? 

[Taylor]

11 minutes ago, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

Have you been there since the stay in place order?  The one near us limits the amount of customers inside and the kids working there make your yogurt for you with your direction (more/less, those toppings) while wearing a mask and gloves. 

They can't seem to get the amount of yogurt and toppings right. I'm pretty sure their managers told them to overflow the cup so that we have to pay more.

[tdawg87]

I fucking love yogurt. It's so creamy and smooth when it slides down my throat.

[red321]

29 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

So there's a middle ground that I'll be happy to reach with righties on this issue: We need to start opening everything back up. We can't keep extending the stay at home orders all year. However, I will say it can't just be a "rip the band-aid off" situation. It needs to be done with intelligence and calculation. Opening everything up at once is not going to immediately solve the economic issues nor the unemployment issues. People are getting paid $600 a week to be unemployed. Where's the motivation to go back to work if you make less than that?

The government needs to figure out a way to get these people back to work; incentives, better pay, whatever. It's not going to be easy. The world as we know it has changed significantly and getting it back to "normal" could take years, if ever.

So open things back up. Start slowly, and build it up over the summer. Keep mandating masks and social distancing. As much as people on the right hate this, it's something that should be enforced. Go where you want to go, but take the necessary steps that have PROVEN to be effective. If not, get penalized.

My concern with what we are doing now is, it's already outlined how to approach this. Look at countries like Germany, New Zealand, and  South Korea. They are slowly starting to re-open society (after actually doing the initial hard work)...but they have a plan for it based around ensuring cases are going down, extensive testing, contract tracing, and quarantine facilities (amongst other things). Each stage has steps outlined...including knowing what to do if you start to see a spike in cases or outbreaks in certain areas. 

The US has not done this on a national level, in fact the administration stopped the CDC from releasing reopening plans and has taken the additional step of telling the CDC to make the plans less specific. Ther current national plan seems to be trying to convince everyone they are "warriors" and accept they might be a casualty of war so that we can try and prop the economy back up for the orange buffoon to run for re-election on with the added bonus of blaming local governments for not doing enough if they reopened (as demanded) too soon and without the proper plans in place.. That doesn't make us warriors...it makes us cannon fodder. Hell, we can't even get people to wear masks in public without some douchebags thinking it's their konstitusheenell write to try and infect other people and pulling out a gun.

The virus isn't something that can be bargained with. It is what it is. 

 

 

[Lou]

2 minutes ago, red321 said:

My concern with what we are doing now is, it's already outlined how to approach this. Look at countries like Germany, New Zealand, and  South Korea. They are slowly starting to re-open society (after actually doing the initial hard work)...but they have a plan for it based around ensuring cases are going down, extensive testing, contract tracing, and quarantine facilities (amongst other things). Each stage has steps outlined...including knowing what to do if you start to see a spike in cases or outbreaks in certain areas. 

The US has not done this on a national level, in fact the administration stopped the CDC from releasing reopening plans and has taken the additional step of telling the CDC to make the plans less specific. Ther current national plan seems to be trying to convince everyone they are "warriors" and accept they might be a casualty of war so that we can try and prop the economy back up for the orange buffoon to run for re-election on with the added bonus of blaming local governments for not doing enough if they reopened (as demanded) too soon and without the proper plans in place.. That doesn't make us warriors...it makes us cannon fodder. Hell, we can't even get people to wear masks in public without some douchebags thinking it's their konstitusheenell write to try and infect other people and pulling out a gun.

The virus isn't something that can be bargained with. It is what it is. 

 

 

*right 

[Adam]

57 minutes ago, Tank said:

agreed.

restaurants are going to have to refigure how they seat & serve, and we as customers are going to have to adapt just as much. same goes for sporting events and concerts, churches and malls.

i'm curious to see how disneyland and the other parks make adjustments. that's going to be a big deal.

Well knotts ain’t opening back up this year

[gotbeer]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

https://abc7.com/business/covid-downturn-souplantation-to-permanently-close-all-locations/6163862/

That sucks

If they are still around, Hometown Buffets are probably next.  I didn't know Souplantations were still around.  

[Brandon]

7 minutes ago, Adam said:

Well knotts ain’t opening back up this year

All good dawg.

I prefer Castle Park in Riverside anyway.

[gotbeer]

1 hour ago, red321 said:

because people are going to flock to a crowded restaurant where you are sitting ass to elbows to the table next to you? And if the person next to you sneezes or coughs..what then?

It's not just government saying go ahead and open back up, how restaurants operate are going to have to change for them to survive.

The problem that is going to occur with restaurants is their business plans are all about # of seats and turns.  This is one of the most important things that banks look for in restaurants.  Because by number of seats, turns, and the menu prices, they can get an idea of how much a restaurant can make, and if their business is financially viable.  So by cutting the number of seats, you essentially change their financial and business models.  

This is going to be one of the biggest obstacles for most restaurants, and probably why most won't survive.  

The other issue that they are going to have, that people probably don't think about is the back of the room.  Kitchens usually aren't that big and are crammed with a bunch of cooks, waiters, etc.  If you say they have to physically distance, I can't see how most kitchen lines are going to function without expanding the size of the kitchen or cutting the staff.  

[red321]

16 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

The problem that is going to occur with restaurants is their business plans are all about # of seats and turns.  This is one of the most important things that banks look for in restaurants.  Because by number of seats, turns, and the menu prices, they can get an idea of how much a restaurant can make, and if their business is financially viable.  So by cutting the number of seats, you essentially change their financial and business models.  

This is going to be one of the biggest obstacles for most restaurants, and probably why most won't survive.  

The other issue that they are going to have, that people probably don't think about is the back of the room.  Kitchens usually aren't that big and are crammed with a bunch of cooks, waiters, etc.  If you say they have to physically distance, I can't see how most kitchen lines are going to function without expanding the size of the kitchen or cutting the staff.  

 

Think a lot of restaurants are going to look a lot different. Found this article interesting. 

https://thetakeout.com/how-will-restaurants-change-after-coronavirus-1843288069

Whole host of issues (summarizing some points from this article)...going to feel comfortable eating while staff is wearing masks? All those open kitchen concepts probably out the window. Restaurants will probably cost more, less seats = less diners and costs needs to be spread amongst fewer guests. Probably see some restaurants expand options for to go or cook at home (they prep and you take home to cook).

Certainly will look different

 

[Tank]

1 hour ago, st1ckboy said:

How is their pozole? 

not as good as their sushi.

[gotbeer]

2 minutes ago, red321 said:

 

Think a lot of restaurants are going to look a lot different. Found this article interesting. 

https://thetakeout.com/how-will-restaurants-change-after-coronavirus-1843288069

Whole host of issues (summarizing some points from this article)...going to feel comfortable eating while staff is wearing masks? All those open kitchen concepts probably out the window. Restaurants will probably cost more, less seats = less diners and costs needs to be spread amongst fewer guests. Probably see some restaurants expand options for to go or cook at home (they prep and you take home to cook).

Certainly will look different

 

Yeah I agree.  And one of the problems is restaurants were getting too expensive as is.  You are looking at pre $15 a dish, and if post is $20 and up it's going to have a lot of people not going out.  

I also think take out from restaurants is a funny thing.  I usually go to a restaurant because I don't want to cook or clean and to be served.  So people are willing to pay the same amount, and still have to cook, clean and serve themselves.  All at a premium price.  

Just my opinion, but I think this is going to be a culling of the restaurant industry similar to when the recession hit.  If I remember right, the biggest victim of the recession was staples that never changed.  Think of places like Marie Callendars and Claim Jumpers, comfort food places.  Still around, but not nearly what they were in their heyday.  And they just never changed.  In this one, who knows what will survive.  Could be those that relied heavily on bars go down with the introduction of micro brews.  Could be those gourmet pretenders go down.  But some type of restaurant will get hit harder.  Besides Buffets, I think those are all doa as is.  

[red321]

8 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Yeah I agree.  And one of the problems is restaurants were getting too expensive as is.  You are looking at pre $15 a dish, and if post is $20 and up it's going to have a lot of people not going out.  

I also think take out from restaurants is a funny thing.  I usually go to a restaurant because I don't want to cook or clean and to be served.  So people are willing to pay the same amount, and still have to cook, clean and serve themselves.  All at a premium price.  

Just my opinion, but I think this is going to be a culling of the restaurant industry similar to when the recession hit.  If I remember right, the biggest victim of the recession was staples that never changed.  Think of places like Marie Callendars and Claim Jumpers, comfort food places.  Still around, but not nearly what they were in their heyday.  And they just never changed.  In this one, who knows what will survive.  Could be those that relied heavily on bars go down with the introduction of micro brews.  Could be those gourmet pretenders go down.  But some type of restaurant will get hit harder.  Besides Buffets, I think those are all doa as is.  

I agree, you are going to see a lot of places that never re-open.

If I could get some solid dinners, with instructions, without having to do all the prep work - might be something we'd consider. Going to the store, doing the chopping, etc....can be a pain in the ass. I could see a market for that similar to a Fresh N Easy or Blue Apron. Some couples/families like to cook together, becomes part of the dining experience.

I also think you might see an expansion of places that become take out only. Not a fast food, but more of that fast casual model but with no dining area. Places like Chipotle or Panda Express...but also higher quality. I could see some restaurants look at that model. Kitchen staff, few people working the front taking orders and dealing with customers. If ABC keeps up the loser alcohol rules you can grab an  entire meal and then be at home along with the bottle of wine. Probably see some of those places look at moving to family size portions as well. We have a number of places in Fullerton doing that right now.. Call up and for $30 you can get a family meal, stop by at 5pm, it's all packed up and ready for you curbside. Another place has $40 meal for two that includes salad, appetizer, rice, choice of protein. For another $15 you can get a bottle of wine.

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to see some places look at that as an option...lot smaller footprint/overhead.

 

[gotbeer]

5 minutes ago, red321 said:

I agree, you are going to see a lot of places that never re-open.

If I could get some solid dinners, with instructions, without having to do all the prep work - might be something we'd consider. Going to the store, doing the chopping, etc....can be a pain in the ass. I could see a market for that similar to a Fresh N Easy or Blue Apron. Some couples/families like to cook together, becomes part of the dining experience.

I also think you might see an expansion of places that become take out only. Not a fast food, but more of that fast casual model but with no dining area. Places like Chipotle or Panda Express...but also higher quality. I could see some restaurants look at that model. Kitchen staff, few people working the front taking orders and dealing with customers. If ABC keeps up the loser alcohol rules you can grab an  entire meal and then be at home along with the bottle of wine. Probably see some of those places look at moving to family size portions as well. We have a number of places in Fullerton doing that right now.. Call up and for $30 you can get a family meal, stop by at 5pm, it's all packed up and ready for you curbside. Another place has $40 meal for two that includes salad, appetizer, rice, choice of protein. For another $15 you can get a bottle of wine.

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to see some places look at that as an option...lot smaller footprint/overhead.

 

Could very well be that those restaurants that are landlocked are the one's that will fold.  Curbside/family meals could be the way to go.  Oddly, family meals are the staple of Chinese restaurants.  (BTW, I think it's hilarious when you get people in a chinese restaurant ordering as if it's individual plates they are ordering.  And if you are one of those that go to a chinese restaurant and each member of the party orders a plate for themselves, you are doing it wrong.  And yes, an ex's family was one of those such families.  I was so confused that evening.)

[Adam]

Just played baseball with a few other dads and their kids. No Karens around. Was a lot of fun

[Lou]

Sat on my ass all day. Accomplished nothing. Was a lot of fun. 

[m0nkey]

4 minutes ago, Lou said:

Sat on my ass all day. Accomplished nothing. Was a lot of fun. 

I’ve been catching up on the wire all day today since it leaves prime in 2 weeks. 
 

Just another day of work at home. 

[m0nkey]

2 hours ago, gotbeer said:

Could very well be that those restaurants that are landlocked are the one's that will fold.  Curbside/family meals could be the way to go.  Oddly, family meals are the staple of Chinese restaurants.  (BTW, I think it's hilarious when you get people in a chinese restaurant ordering as if it's individual plates they are ordering.  And if you are one of those that go to a chinese restaurant and each member of the party orders a plate for themselves, you are doing it wrong.  And yes, an ex's family was one of those such families.  I was so confused that evening.)

What do you think Thai restaurants are?  Sometimes we order family style, sometimes I get my own curry or pad thai

[Lou]

8 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

I’ve been catching up on the wire all day today since it leaves prime in 2 weeks. 
 

Just another day of work at home. 

[Brandon]

20 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

I’ve been catching up on the wire all day today since it leaves prime in 2 weeks. 
 

Just another day of work at home.