Restaurant Association of Maryland reveal plan to help restaurants safely reopen

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Restaurant Association of Maryland has come up with a set of their own reopening recommendations for restaurants in the state. The Restaurants are Ready plan, which has been presented to Governor Larry Hogan, which includes recommendations for outdoor seating that would allow a maximum of 50 people to be outside at a given time. It would also allow a maximum of 6 people to a table. Officials say the plan is a, “Smart and responsible approach allowing for the public to have a gradual return to dine-in options.” And with Maryland being one of only a handful of states that have not received a timeline for when restaurants can have dine-in services, they say it’s important to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later.

“We have to order food items, we have to get our dining rooms prepared. We have lots of things that need to be done. So as much lead time as possible to know when we’re going to be able to reopen is important to our industry,” said Restaurant Association of Maryland CEO and President, Marshall Weston.

Officials say under the current circumstances, Maryland’s restaurant and foodservice industry has lost approximately $1.4 billion in sales since March, and nearly 150,000 restaurant employees have been laid off or furloughed.