Restaurants in downtown Dayton are facing challenges due to COVID-19, including operating with limited seating capacity in order to meet state health mandated social distancing guidelines.
To help, the city of Dayton introduced a ‘Pop-Up Patio’ program last week to help restaurants maximize the number of guests they can seat; but then some restaurants did not have a way to properly block of their expanded patio.
The Downtown Dayton Partnership came up with a solution by using box planters.
“They’re obviously losing restaurant capacity inside, so really trying to helping them expand on the outside through pop-up patios,” Scott Murphy, Vice President of Economics at Downtown Dayton Partnership, said.
Dayton’s ‘Pop-Up Patio’ Programs allows businesses to apply for a permit through the city to expand their outdoor dining areas on to sidewalks to curbside parking zones, to help maximize their seating capacity.
“There’s been a lot of thought in how we can build these patios that are really simple, cheap, and in an affordable way,” Murphy said.
That’s where the box planters come in – for restaurants to use as a patio barrier.
“Within each of these boxes, they’ll drop a potted plant. They can string together rope or lights, and really create a nice patio for their customers,” Murphy said.
Several businesses helped with the project including Cross Street Partners, Requarth Lumber, and Miller Valentine Construction.
“We thought it would be a lot of fun and help our downtown businesses,” said Tony Williams, Vice President of Operations at Miller Valentine Construction. He and his crew helped to make 75 box planters on Monday.
“We thought it may take all day, but with volunteers, it’s been going much quicker than we thought. We got a rhythm down, so absolutely, we are making great progress,” Miller said.
After getting approval from the city to expand their patio, each restaurant in downtown Dayton is eligible to receive four to five box planters.
“We want to see them survive and thrive in the long term, so this is something we can help them through the pandemic and COVID-19,” Murphy said.
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