Dear Feastlings,
I offer to you the solution, and it’s not a difficult one. Ask yourself: how do I want to be treated? Then behave thusly.
At Feast, as in the world, we have a broad spectrum of beliefs. We’ve been getting closer and closer to opening our doors, and there are those here who are excited about it, and those who are unsettled, and those who are someplace on the spectrum in between. And it’s fair. We all get our news from the sources we trust, and we have our own opinions. Me, personally, I’d love to be able to subsist on takeout until every last one of our guests felt comfortable, but now that our losses have crossed into six-figure territory, it’s clear to me that if we don’t start seating people, it would make more sense to sell the building and the equipment for what we can get, cut our losses, and take our ball and go home. But my hope is that we can open the bunker door, hobble out, humbled, and hang our shingle out again and see who comes.. We’re practicing for a couple of days on family to get our sea legs back, but come Sunday, we’ll be somewhat open for dine-in.
by somewhat, I mean that we still can’t get enough staff to fully re-open, so we’ll be seating for dinner only, with the first seating at 4 pm and the last seating at 8, until we gather some momentum. Then, depending on the response we get from both guests and potential coworkers, we’ll gradually expand our hours until we get to where we were: lunch and dinner with no break in between.
I haven’t lost sleep over any of that. What I have lost sleep over is the messiest part of all this: there’ll be humans. So the quarrel I saw the other day over masks somewhere else? It’ll be in my house now. All the behaviors I’ve witnessed over these many months- the cocky walk, maskless, into the grocery store, begging to be challenged, the gloved, triple-masked, face shield wearer with the copious applications of hand sanitizer, the person who wants to make it political and the person who just wants a snack and forgot the mask but says they’ve been vaccinated. Every behavior I’ve seen out there encroaches on someone else’s beliefs, and I don’t have a referee’s whistle, nor do I want anything to do with one. Honestly, I’m more than a little resentful at having been put in this position, especially after being put in the position I’ve been in for the past fourteen months.
So here it is. in bullet points:
– first of all, after years of paying Open Table well over ten thousand dollars a year to furnish people with points, we’re throwing in the towel. We’ll be switching to Resy, but it will be a few more weeks until we go live with that, so in the meantime, you’ll have to look back to yesteryear to make a reservations, and call us. On the phone. During business hours. While we aren’t seating the dining room at lunch, we’re here and answering phones at 11 am, Tuesday through Sunday, until some time after 8 pm, when everyone who’s arrived has eaten, finished and gone.
-second of all, we’re aiming for the lowest common denominator as far as comfort goes. This means, regardless of whether YOU’VE been vaccinated and regardless what YOU feel comfortable with, the rule at Feast until further notice is this: if you’re mobile, you’re masked. Yes, I know that everyone has to take their mask off to eat and drink. but if they’re going to the bathroom, or strolling to another table to say hello to someone they haven’t seen in fourteen months, I don’t regard it as an imposition to put on a mask to make other members of your community comfortable, and if you do, then you’re not a member of the Feast community. here, we treat one another with respect and civility.
-third of all, treating one another with respect and civility works both ways. If someone during the course of dinner forgets to mask up, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re disrespecting you; it could very well mean that they’ve forgotten to put on their mask. A polite reminder is acceptable, but if your service animal is a High Horse, you’ll need to keep it in check if you want to eat here in person.
-I hereby remind you all that just as fervently as you believe that it’s a huge risk to enter a building where people are unmasked, there’s someone who just as fervently believes that it’s dangerous to be in the same room with people who’ve been vaccinated. Truly. None of you has to agree with the other, but if you don’t treat everyone with respect, you’ll be ejected from Feast, regardless which side you belief has the blessing from above.
-as far as respect and politeness go, please remember that the people serving you have had their income slashed by fifty percent or more over the past year. Myself included. So a little kindness and politeness go a long way. We’ve all learned we can survive on dramatically less money than we were making before, so we’re markedly less patient with people who choose to treat us with anything less than politeness and respect. One of the things I *have* been losing sleep over is how little I trust myself not to kick people out willy-nilly. Not dealing with people for a year makes one regard dealing with people whom they haven’t chosen with, shall we say, distaste. At a minimum.
-please also understand that in order to keep seating safe as the Pima County Health Department regards it, we have far fewer seats than we historically have. That means we’ll be booked up more quickly. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to be able to go full tilt and make up the significant chunk of cash that we’ve lost over the past year and change, but we can’t, or we won’t, and being edgy with us on the phone or in person will accomplish nothing but making us grumpy and giving everyone poorer service than they deserve.
-know also that we hold ourselves to the same standards we’re asking of you: we know that anyone who walks in the door has had a year. We know that maybe you’ve taken a financial hit, or lost a loved one, or been very ill yourself, or had a split with your family over your respective pandemic-related realities. So if you catch us forgetting that, a gentle reminder is expected and appreciated.
Feast is a community, first and foremost; it’s what’s gotten us through the pandemic without a daisy on our grave. We want you to remain a part of that community, and we want to participate in it ourselves. We want to make food and beverage that helps you put the past year and change behind you for an evening, whether we agree on it or not- we won’t talk to you about what *should* have happened, or who’s responsible for what, or who’s challenging who’s freedoms. We just want to make something delicious, in hopes that it offers you pleasure, and we hope you’ll participate like a member of our little community. Now take a deep breath, and pick up the phone, and dial: 326-9363. We miss you.
Here’s the wine tasting, which will remain virtual for the time being:
Here’s the menu- we’ll still be offering takeout, but delivery will cease tomorrow:
https://www.eatatfeast.com/dining/menus/lunch-dinner/
And here’s the list of drinks. I need one, right now:
Love,
Doug, of course, and everyone at Feast