Sumter restaurants sink or learn to swim during pandemic

Local eateries have to adapt to survive in a COVID-19 year as some chains suffer

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The restaurant industry has taken a huge hit this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Eateries across the county and state have drastically changed their methods to stay in business, and even then, some haven’t made it.
Marble Slab Creamery permanently closed its doors on East Wesmark Boulevard in November because of the ice cream shop’s low performance sales amid the pandemic. Other chains to close their locations in Sumter since March include Golden Corral and Ruby Tuesday, both on Broad Street, though IHOP has reopened.
“When COVID hit … we took a couple of hits back to back, but looking at the other locations, Sumter just never bounced back,” said Geri Fields, business owner of Marble Slab. She said other Marble Slab locations in South Carolina were doing fine except for the one in Sumter.
The store reopened and closed several times, resulting in loss of revenue for the shop.
According to her, Sumter’s Marble Slab revenue declined about 25% during August through October. She said they debated closing early in the summer but waited until after the hot season to see if they could make a comeback. Unfortunately, they couldn’t.
In this pandemic, thousands of restaurants and bars countywide, statewide and nationwide have faced the same issue.
Gov. Henry McMaster closed dine-in services with an executive order in March but eased restrictions on May 11 by reopening restaurants partially with limited services. It wasn’t until early October that dine-in services could resume operations at full capacity. Restaurant staff are still required to wear masks, and customers are supposed to wear masks if they’re not at their table.
Cases have been rising since the beginning of October.
As of Thursday, there have been more than 3,700 confirmed coronavirus cases and 90 confirmed deaths in Sumter County. In South Carolina, confirmed cases have nearly reached 180,000, showing no signs of slowing down as more than 1,200 new cases were announced on Thursday.
“It’s tough,” said Scott Estep, owner of Palmetto Oyster House on West Wesmark Boulevard and J. O’Grady’s downtown.
Since March, Estep’s restaurants have gone through ups and downs trying to navigate the pandemic. After dine-in services closed in March, Estep was forced to close J. O’Grady’s and J. O’Grady’s After Hours because of limited space and the nature of the after-hours karaoke bar. J. O’Grady’s has reopened, and Palmetto Oyster House has remained open with adaptions.
He said every item they serve at the Oyster House is single-use in terms of utensils and table settings, following state recommendations. They increased their focus on ordering at a counter, take-out and outdoor dining, though indoor dining is open.
“You bring more people in, but you can’t really serve those people just for the fact that you’re trying to keep social distance measures,” he said about the new guidelines.
He has seen a mixed reaction from customers about their reopening and safety measures. Some are happy while others hate it.
“It’s almost like we get criticized for doing the extreme,” he said. “It seems extreme to everyone because very few people are doing it.”
He expects as cases continue to climb, people will be less likely to dine out.
“We’ll see a lot more to-go orders when that happens,” he said.
Other restaurants have experienced less people going inside because of worries over coming into close contact with other people.
“It’s not like really busy because the people are still worried about COVID,” said Thai Tea owner Gail Singkhonket about the slow traffic at her new cafe.
Singkhonket opened her business on Bultman Drive in July and added new safety measures to lesson people’s concerns with takeout options and, for those dining in, mask mandates and social distancing guidelines.
Jimmy Byrd, a county councilman and co-owner of The Restaurant at Second Mill, is experiencing these same issues at his restaurant with less customers coming in and more dining out. The restaurant closed this year at its location in the Elks Lodge but recently reopened in a renovated space on Broad Street adjacent to the Quality Inn.
“Some people are still scared to come in restaurants,” Byrd said.
Eateries are hoping to one day soon resume normal dine-in services, but a push to support local and small businesses during the pandemic seems to have resonated as people still flock to downtown Sumter’s restaurants, most of which have outdoor seating. Other new local restaurants like Carolina Grove on Alice Drive have also implemented strict sanitization standards, and all-take-out options like Susie’s Chicken and Fries food truck continue to grow.
But Estep thinks we have a long road ahead of us before things get back to normal.
“I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “I think the restaurant industry is forever changed by this.”