Governor Pritzker announced tighter COVID-19 restrictions for Kane, DuPage, Will, and Kankakee counties that went into effect on Friday, October 23. The restrictions closed bars and restaurants for indoor dining. Jameson’s, located in Kane County, has once again closed for indoor dining.
Walter Myszkowski, a manager at Jameson, said, “We followed every protocol in our restaurant to keep our employees and diners safe. I have been told by our customers that they felt safe dining at Jameson’s.”
Data has shown that bars and restaurants led the state in places where infected people had worked or visited between August and September. Jameson’s had gone to great lengths to keep their customers and employees safe. They set up for social distancing, increased the frequency and visibility of cleaning and sanitizing efforts in the restaurant, especially the high-touch surfaces from door handles to tabletops, ensured the use of face masks as required by state and local ordinances, and carefully monitored staff members’ health.
Myszkowski said, “We took our employees temperatures daily and made sure everyone wore their masks.”
Lisa Doland, another manager at Jameson’s said, “We were really starting to increase our dining customers and doing well. And then we got this news, forcing us to close our indoor dining. We don’t know how long this going to last, but we will continue to offer curbside and pick-up service.”
What menu items will be offered?
Doland said, “Other than keeping the choice of soup to one, we are offering our full menu. We will be closed on Mondays. Tuesday – Saturday lunch menu available 12-3 p.m. – the dinner menu available 3-7 p.m. and on Sunday, the dinner menu will be available all day 12-7 p.m.”
The weekend breakfast menu will not be offered until the dining room opens.
Doland said, “We don’t know when we will be able to offer indoor dining, but hopefully we will be open up for Thanksgiving. It will be a plated offering. If we cannot open, we will offer a Thanksgiving dinner for pick-up.”
Doland and Myszkowski are concerned not only with the health of the employees but their financial support. Even in the most uncertain of times, the role of a manager remains the same, to support their employees.
Myszkowski said, “When we were open, we tried to give everyone as many hours as they wanted. We encouraged them to work as much as they could and save their money. I was anticipating that we would be heading toward another shutdown.”
Doland added, “Right now we are taking the opportunity to do more deep cleaning and keep our employees busy.”
“We have Murphy oiled all the woodwork. It’s a tough time for all businesses and we are not alone,” Myszkowski said.
For Jameson’s to open up for indoor seating, Kane County must be at a 6.5% for three consecutive days. Nearby restaurants in McHenry County were open for a week but on October 31, the same restrictions for Lake and McHenry Counties took effect.
