Yurts, Igloos and Pop-Up Domes: How Safe Is ‘Outside’ Restaurant Dining This Winter?

With the arrival of winter and the U.S. coronavirus outbreak in full swing, the restaurant industry — looking at losses of $235 billion in 2020 — is clinging to techniques for sustaining outdoor dining even through the cold and vagaries of a U.S. winter.
Yurts, greenhouses, igloos, tents and all kinds of partly open outdoor structures have popped up at restaurants around the country. Owners have turned to these as a lifeline to help fill some tables by offering the possibility at least of a safer dining experience.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to expand the outdoor dining season for as long as possible,” said Mike Whatley with the National Restaurant Association.
Dire times have forced the industry to find ways to survive. Whatley said more than 100,000 restaurants are either “completely closed or not open for business in any capacity.”
“It’s going to be a hard and … Read the rest