Closed for months due to COVID-19, downtown Macon restaurants are staging a comeback

Less than a month after opening, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ryan Smith to close his restaurant, Lazy Susan.

The tapas bar specializes in cocktails, wine and quality food that ranges from typical Southern food to dishes with elements of Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Portuguese cuisine.

The coronavirus outbreak was a punch to the gut for small businesses across the country, but Smith was able to find some silver lining in the pandemic. He decided to reevaluate his decisions with information collected during Lazy Susan’s first few weeks of operation.

“In a way, the COVID-19 disaster was kind of a blessing for me,” Smith said. “We had the good opportunity to be open for 20 days to get a picture or a snapshot of what our service and restaurant was going to look like.”

Smith said that when they first opened the restaurant, he and chef Brian Fitzgerald heavily utilized their fine dining experience. Fitzgerald has worked at local fine dining restaurants like Dovetail and Natalia’s while Smith has been a bartender at places like Dovetail.

Smith and Fitzgerald began making changes. They wanted a balance between a laid back neighborhood hangout and a fine dining, date night option, so some nights feature DJs performing sets splashed between wine tasting nights.

“We had some time to sit back and reflect on our message and what kind of place we wanted to be,” Smith said. “I kind came out of the gate a little too serious and people started to see us as a fine dining restaurant which is not what we want to be at all.”

Reopening for business

Most downtown Macon restaurants have reopened to allow dine-in customers, including Lazy Susan. The restaurants have had to follow strict guidelines in terms of safety and precautions when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19.

Smith said that at Lazy Susan that if any employee doesn’t feel well, has a fever or exhibits any symptoms, they have to stay home for at least 10 days and must have a negative test before returning to work.

Smith jokes that the restaurant is so clean, surgeries could be performed on the floor, although Smith’s wife Ashley, a doctor, might debate that.

“We work really hard to maintain those guidelines. So, you know, most times most restaurants that care about that kind of thing are very, very clean anyways,” Smith said. “But all restaurants right now are a heightened sense of responsibility. And we’re all working doubly hard to make sure that we’re not causing any issues.”

Community support

As the restaurants in the downtown area come back, so have the customers. Smith has been amazed by the community support.

“It’s just something I didn’t expect. We have been blessed by the community coming out and supporting us,” he said. “I think local restaurants are extremely important to small communities, especially because they give a sense of culture in place.”

Emily Hopkins, the director of Place and Main Street Macon Manager at NewTown Macon, said downtown restaurants are vital to the city. She’s happy to see that residents seem to recognize that are supporting them in various ways including dine-in and take out.

“It’s been incredible to see people supporting local, independently owned businesses during this time,” Hopkins said. “We at NewTown have been so impressed by all of our businesses and downtown, how they’ve been able to pivot so quickly and change their business models.”

Smith said that one of the biggest reasons they have been able to get up and going so quickly is the work done by Renasant Bank in helping them get involved in the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program.

NewTown has provided classes for business owners over the course of the pandemic to provide them with information and resources to stabalize their businesses and participate in various loan programs available from the state and federal governments.

Smith has used the federal stimulus money to pay all of his 12 or so employees, including his servers, more than minimum wage.

“If a restaurant goes under, we’re talking about like 20, 30 people out of a job,” Smith said. “That has a ripple effect if a lot of restaurants go under because, in our case and like in Ocmulgee Brewpub’s case, we’re supporting local bakeries and local farmers.

“It’s the staff and the owners and the people that are in the restaurant every day, but it’s the people that are that you don’t see behind the curtain that do our deliveries and do our local produce and do our local baked goods (who are impacted).”

A helping hand

NewTown Macon is working to assist local restaurants any way they can, helping add picnic tables along Poplar Street to create outside dining options and developing a digital map to guide customers to local businesses.

“We’re still figuring that out ourselves in terms of what they need. But we’ll continue to support downtown, continue to create that experience that you have when you come downtown,” Hopkins said. “With downtown having so much open space and public space where you can take a meal to a picnic table or on a park bench, that’s a huge amenity and still have that overall sense of community.”

Smith is not concerned about a second wave or another outbreak coming from the restaurants in downtown Macon because of the precautions they’re all taking.

Hopkins noted that consumers also need to take responsibility to ensure COVID-19 doesn’t spread when they eat out.

“Our business owners are doing a good job of following the guidelines and a lot of ways going above and beyond those guidelines,” Hopkins said. “But we as customers have to be doing our part and wearing masks or washing our hands frequently and follow guidelines that have been outlined by our businesses, there is a two-way street.”

This story was originally published June 14, 2020 at 7:00 AM.