PHILLIPSTON — In July of last year, Harshal Patel took ownership of the popular King Phillip Restaurant in Phillipston. Eight months later, he found himself in the position of having to close his doors and offer pick-up orders only.
Now, having thus far weathered the storm of the coronavirus pandemic, Patel has his plans for offering outside seating all set and is champing at the bit to get going.
He currently envisions enough seating being placed along the Baldwinville Road side of the restaurant with enough tables to accommodate about 50 customers at any one time. Even with al fresco dining now being allowed under Gov. Charlie Baker’s re-opening plan, Patel says he will only be able to serve about a third of the number patrons he would normally feed inside the restaurant itself.
“I will have maybe 12 to 13 tables,” he said, “The maximum number of people who can sit at one table is six, so a few of the tables will be able to seat six. But, overall, I’m thinking we can seat 50 to 55 people.”
While Patel will keep the picnic-style tables he uses for his ice cream stand business, he said new, more traditional tables will be made available for diners. A container garden will be installed to separate patrons of the restaurant from those cooling off with an ice cream cone or sundae. Artificial turf will also be installed over the blacktop where the outdoor seating will be available.
Even when indoor dining is again allowed, Patel said he wants to play it safe.
“Realistically speaking,” he said, “what the situation right now is, if the government says next month that indoor dining is open, that doesn’t mean I fill the place. I want to fill this (outdoor tables) first, to stay on the safer side. Even when inside re-opens, I’ll still only have capacity for 55 or 60 people inside.”
For now, he sees outside dining as a good option.
“People are tired of being inside; they’re tired of cooking. So, it’s better for them. It’s kind of like a night out.”
Patel said the past few months have been both encouraging and educational.
“It’s been tough, but it isn’t anything we couldn’t handle,” he said. “It’s been a bad hit for me but I still have to stand up and keep on moving. When someone likes your food, likes a dish you prepare, and they still want it even though they need to pick it up, that’s positive, it’s motivation to keep going. You want to give people what they want, what they like. The minute I say to myself ‘why should I care?’ that’s the end of it. But I never think that.”
Patel has been offering specials during the pandemic — like buy one meal, get one half off — and has not resorted to raising prices to make up for the loss of business. At the same time, he has managed to keep employees on his payroll. He credits his clientele for being able to hold on.
“We’ve kept all of our regular customers,” he said, “and we have also gained a lot of new customers, in part because of the deals we’re offering. I was never really closed, so a lot of new customers from Gardner and other towns started coming to us. I think the community really does appreciate what we are doing, and that is a big thing for us. The community expects good things from us, and we should not drop below that standard.
“Initially, it was hard for me and my employees to get used to all of this. It took about two or three weeks to design new processes for take-out. I was surprised to learn we could do so much business in take-out. But it turned out really good.”
One thing he and his staff learned was the need to vary cooking times, especially for steak.
“When someone orders a medium rare steak in the restaurant, it goes right from kitchen to customer,” he said. “When you put a steak into a carry-out container it keeps cooking, so you’re not getting a medium rare steak by the time you get it home. So, we have to tell people, ‘If you want a medium well steak to eat, you need to order a medium rare. It took us about a month to figure that out.”
When the restaurant opens to indoor dining again, it may look a bit different to regular customers. Patel has started the process of remodeling the interior of the King Phillip.
Phillipston’s Selectboard is likely to consider Patel’s plan for outdoor service at its meeting Wednesday night. If it gets approved, said Patel, he’ll be ready to serve outside diners on Thursday.