Vilnius, the capital of the Baltic nation of Lithuania, has created a giant “outdoor café” so its restaurants, bars and eateries can safely reopen. But how realistic is that?
After six excruciating weeks of being in a near lockdown, Lithuanian restaurateur Eimantas Lumpickas is relieved to finally have customers to serve again — but he’s never done it quite like this.
For the first time, all of his tables are outdoors.
Some are in a newly created seating area on the sidewalk and others will soon be in a park down the street, 40 metres away, that’s never seen table dining in the past.
“The restaurant is alive again,” said Lumpickas, as he relocated the tables and chairs outside of Drama Burger, an upscale gastro café in Vilnius, the capital of the Baltic nation of 2.7 million people. “The plan of course is brilliant,” he said.
“We are listening to the government’s guidance, we are keeping the distance between the tables, staff are wearing masks and gloves and using sanitizers.”
Just shy of two weeks into Vilnius’s outdoor dining experiment, Lumpickas says his customers are clearly happy to be out socializing again, though he remains uncertain how profitable this new arrangement will be.
“The government has only allowed us to sit two people [together] or families so there is still not the usual crowd,” he said.
“And the weather was not that great.”
Giant café
The mayor of Vilnius has touted the idea of turning his city into a “big open air café” as a measure that can allow restaurants to start serving customers again without the health risks from COVID-19 that come with being too close together inside. Infectious disease experts say it’s generally much harder to contract the virus in outdoor settings, provided people maintain a two-metre distance from one another.
“I would say it’s already working,” said Remigijus Šimašius, who showed up for his interview on a bicycle.
Vilnius has a quaint old-town feel, with narrow cobblestone streets and brightly painted buildings. While putting tables on sidewalks outside cafes is fairly common, this experiment envisions something far grander, with parks, paved squares, parking lots and c