Tourists and a pandemic don’t mix.
Salem, Massachusetts-based Notch Brewing announced Wednesday that it would close its biergarten for on-site service beginning Friday through November 1, as its hometown faces a deluge of tourists in the lead up to Halloween.
“We are suspending all biergarten and taproom service from October 23 through November 1,” the brewery posted on social media.
Founder and owner Chris Lohring told Brewbound Notch employees applauded the decision to close during what is typically the city’s busiest two weeks of foot traffic after several months of dealing with customers unwilling to comply with safety protocols in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a balance of trying to keep a good experience for the guests, and then the guests not really caring that much or having any empathy for what our staff needs to go through on a daily basis,” he said. “When I announced this morning we were going to shut down, it was universally regarded as the right decision by the staff, even though everyone felt disappointed that we had to do it.”
The “Witch City” is a popular tourism destination in the fall, as scare-seeking visitors descend on the town for ghost tours, haunted houses and to visit sites connected to the infamous 1692 witch trials. However, with cases of COVID-19 trending up in the state and across the country, Salem canceled its annual Haunted Happenings, a weeks-long celebration of the macabre. The city has gone so far as to take out paid ads online ask people not to visit.
Nevertheless, fright-seekers still flocked to Salem’s streets, perhaps spurred by months of stay-home orders and travel restrictions.
“We’re concerned with warm weather and this wanderlust that we’re seeing with folks who just want to get out that we’re going to have lots of people flocking to Salem for the typical Halloween events that will not be happening,” Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Salem instituted a mask requirement for all downtown areas and public parks over the summer. Earlier this month, the city paused at the second step of Phase III of its reopening plan, even as the rest of Massachusetts continued reopening. The city asked downtown businesses to implement a reservation or ticketing system to cut down on lines of people waiting to enter establishments, which Notch instituted.
However, pivoting to requiring reservations led to confused and sometimes angry customers, many of whom showed the staff “no empathy whatsoever, expecting us to be perfect in a non-perfect situation, and we just can’t achieve that,” Lohring said.
“The reservations, I think, were a good idea to mitigate lines,” he added. “But it just increased the confrontation with customers, which we really didn’t want.”
Notch isn’t alone in enduring abusive behavior from mask-averse patrons. In August, Bellaire, Michigan-based Short’s Brewing Company beseeched customers to stop disrespecting its employees.
“To all of the customers who have swore at us, yelled, laughed in our faces, threatened negative reviews, name-called, belittled and brought us to tears, we are done,” they wrote on Facebook. “We’re here to tell you that we stand with all of our staff and we will not tolerate this behavior at our pub. Our staff deserves better.”
In July, Boston Beer Company shuttered the outdoor roof deck patio at its Boston taproom in tourist heavy Faneuil Hall. The company cited an “influx of out-of-state visitors from COVID-19 hotspots to our taproom.” The patio reopened in late September.
The month of October accounts for 12% of Notch’s taproom sales, so the lack of on-premise sales will hurt. Notch will continue curbside pickup of beer-to-go — which has been “crushing it” since the pandemic began, Lohring said. The brewery will also begin shipping orders within Massachusetts.
Notch’s taproom and biergarten are popular, but the majority of Notch’s volume is sold through distribution, much of it contract brewed off-site. Since the pandemic hit the U.S. in mid-March, Notch has upped its canning operations in Salem so it can provide more small batches to wholesalers.
The combination of months of pandemic-hampered operations, an impending winter and can and bottle supply chain shortages has left Lorhing feeling uneasy.
“We’re looking at five, six months ‘til we get to spring, and it is way longer than the three months back in the [last] spring, when we opened up for outside beer gardens,” he said. “So we have a much longer chasm to get through this time.”
Above all else, employees’ physical safety and mental well-being must be protected in trying times, Lohring said.
“You can’t say enough how safety is paramount to everybody and that you’re thinking about it every day,” he said. “Because, if you don’t, then what’s happening with that employee psyche? They’re just going out on the front lines for what, a couple bucks? As employers, we need to have the backs of employees.”