Bradenton bars allowed to reopen on Monday. With a food license, some got a head start
Joe Harris was one of the most vocal critics of emergency state orders that closed bars to curb the spread of COVID-19. He saw the state as being discriminatory, singling out one segment of the hospitality industry, while restaurants were allowed to reopen.
Harris, owner of Papa Joe’s Bar, 1242 Whitfield Ave., learned that if he could obtain a license to sell food he could reopen as a restaurant.
And he did about three weeks ago, reopening with pizza on the menu, social distancing, mandatory masks, and a 50 percent dining room capacity.
Harris wasn’t the only bar owner who got a food license during the quarantine.
But he estimates that 30 to 40 percent of local bar owners did not get a food license, and will have to wait until Monday to reopen.
Lou Thomey, one of the owners of McCabe’s Irish Pub at 302 12th St. W., as well as the neighboring Main Street Market, and Tom’s Bad Ass Bar and Grill, said she and her partner are planning to reopen McCabe’s on Wednesday.
“We have to restock. We don’t have any product because we have been closed since March 17,” Thomey said.
During the downtime, the owners put in new floors and a new ice machine at McCabe’s, and temporarily transferred McCabe’s staff to assist with the other two businesses.
“There was a glut of applications for food licenses, and now we don’t need one,” Thomey said.
Jake Stettnisch, a bartender at The Loaded Barrel Tavern, 450 12th St. W., said his business already had a food license and was able to stay open during the quarantine by selling to-go orders.
“I am excited that the bars will be allowed to reopen Monday. I think it is time. I have a lot of friends who have been out of work. It will also help bring traffic back downtown,” Stettnisch said.
The Paddy Wagon Irish Pub, 320 12th St. W., reopened about two weeks ago with a food license, said general manager Jenny Young.
The Paddy Wagon, a new business on Old Main, had been open only about three weeks before having to close for two and a half months because of the pandemic, she said.
The state announced Thursday night that, at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Halsey Beshears, secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, had issued an emergency order rescinding the order that forced bars to close.
Beginning Monday, bar may operate at 50 percent of the facility’s indoor capacity, offer bar service to seated patrons, and permit outdoor seating and service with appropriate social distancing.
“In meetings with hundreds of owners of bars and breweries across the state, I’ve heard their stories of struggle, and I’ve observed their serious commitment to making health and safety a continuing priority in their businesses,” Beshears said in the press release.
“It’s time that we take this step, and it’s vital that we start moving forward with this sector of our hospitality industry who have endured one of the toughest paths for sustaining a business during this pandemic,” he said.
This story was originally published September 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
