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'We're moving forward with cautious optimism': Jackson restaurants reopen after two months

Italiana Anderson
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Starting in late March, many local restaurants closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Some of those restaurants were able to reopen within a few weeks offering to-go, curbside and delivery options.

While these restaurants kept business going by offering those options to customers, a few remained closed, including Lou's Full-Serv and Cultivation Hall.

Louis LaRose, owner and chef of Lou's Full-Serv, which reopened this week, said he didn't plan to close his Jackson restaurant on 904B E. Fortification St., for two months.

Lou's Full-Serve owner and chef Louis LaRose stands in the main dining room of his Belhaven neighborhood restaurant. Friday, May 29, 2020.

LaRose used the downtime to paint, repair, and recharge for the June reopening.

Although he made improvements before he reopened ne he and his team were still skeptical about customers wanting to dine-in so soon.

More:These Jackson area restaurants just reopened or are getting ready to reopen

"Consumer confidence is paramount, if there’s none of that then we’re sinking ship, regardless of how many to-go orders you can do," LaRose said.

Lou's Full-Serve in the Belhaven neighborhood of Jackson reopens next week under new health and safety requirements amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Friday, May 29, 2020.

'We're not out of the woods yet'

On reopening day, some of LaRose's doubts were put to rest as he saw his lunch crowd trickle in.

"I decided to reopen the restaurant on 'Porkchop Thursday' since that is our best-selling menu special," LaRose said. "It gave us Monday to Wednesday to prepare for it and it went surprisingly well."

The longtime chef said he's happy to have his doors open and provide for his employees again.

"My employees are my number one and my customers are number two," LaRose said. "People often look at me funny when I say that, but I can't open without them."

With new guidelines in place and his restaurant operating 50% capacity, LaRose says he still wants his customers to come and enjoy without worry.

"The lunch hour was crazy and getting back into it for the first time in a while, but I think everyone was happy to be back," LaRose said.

'We closed our doors and waited it out'

Cultivation Food Hall at The District at Eastover, general manager, Nick Secoy, closing the food hall was a trying. 

The food hall reopened for business on May 26.

Nick Secoy, general manager of Cultivation Food Hall at The District at Eastover in Jackson, Miss. says he feels the food hall is a part of the community and so responsible for being thoughtful of the health of all, hence Cultivation's efforts to go beyond the newly established health and safety measures required by the City of Jackson amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Thursday, May 28, 2020.

"Most people get into the restaurant industry because their energetic, out-going and like working hard and being busy and all of a sudden that was something we weren’t able to do everyday," Secoy said.

More:Jackson metro restaurant owners making efforts to rebuild amid coronavirus

The food hall that usually seats 200 customers has now scaled down to 40 seats.

"Upon re-entry, we were blessed with a lot of square space so we were able to social distance tables really well," Secoy said. "We set up sanitation stations along with having a great patio for customers to feel even safer."

In order to have 50% capacity with food vendors, Whisk Creperie which is owned by La Brioche Patesserie, combined forces. The food hall's other vendors such as Atlas, Gold Coast Bar, Poke Stop and Honey Hush are still in their prospective spots.

Secoy said the hardest part about reopening was mapping out a plan with his crew on how to make the space safer and how to attract customers again.

After reopening, Secoy said they were off to a slow start but it is only allowing them to adjust to the new normal.

"Our customers have been fantastic," Secoy said. "The current hours of operation and limited seating have been somewhat of a challenge but it is where we are right now." 

Nick Secoy, general manager of Cultivation Food Hall at The District at Eastover in Jackson, Miss. says he feels the food hall is a part of the community and so responsible for being thoughtful of the health of all, hence Cultivation's efforts to go beyond the newly established health and safety measures required by the City of Jackson amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Thursday, May 28, 2020.

"As long as we are taking care of the customers and entrepreneurs inside this building who are looking to grow and revive their business to what it was," Secoy said. "That was our ambition."

Contact Italiana Anderson at (601)-720-3907 or ianderson@gannett.com. Follow @ItalianaAnders2 on Twitter.