Lovejoy’s Bar and Grill has been facing challenges since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
“You know we had to shut down for that six weeks or two months, whatever it was,” Benjamin Nutt, General Manager of Lovejoy’s Bar and Grill and Altitude Chophouse and Brewery said in an interview. “We really had to get efficient with our takeout business. We also do DoorDash as well.”
The delivery system has been a challenge for the restaurant since Laramie is limited to DoorDash. Even though it is convenient to help their service, the mobile app brand takes a large chunk of profit from Lovejoy’s.
According to Nutt, DoorDash takes 30 percent of every dollar on a bill from the restaurant, then charges another fee to the customer. He says the app makes more money off the food than the restaurant does.
State regulations have also created a challenge. In order to properly conduct business, Lovejoy’s has to engage in extra sanitization. Nutt says that employees’ clean surfaces and knobs that are in high touch locations every hour.
While cleaning was already a common practice before, their new schedule for cleaning the restaurant has taken some time to get used to.
Additionally, the restaurant has transitioned away from one use menus and has returned to using their permanent menus. Employees sanitize these menus after every customer, ensuring they are as clean as possible.
The restaurant hasn’t been alone during this time though. Nutt explains that community members have been consistent in ordering from the restaurant and the experience has been great overall.
“At first, when we were just doing takeout, we’d have people rolling through once to three times a week just to get food from us,” Nutt said. “People would come in and buy a 20 dollar meal then tip us another 20 dollars.”
People have told Nutt that they want the restaurant to stick around after COVID-19 dies down and are more than happy to spend their money there.
In years past, the restaurant had a lot of service during the summer months from tourism, Cheyenne Frontier Days and Laramie’s own Jubilee Days. The attendance has dropped significantly because of COVID-19 halting travelers and major events.
With COVID-19 not letting up, Lovejoy’s is required to limit customers in the building to 50 percent of their capacity. The bar is feeling the blunt of these regulations, only allowing six people to sit at the bar.
Limiting the bar’s capacity has been hard for the restaurant since it can be used for both individual dinners and alcoholic distribution. While food can still be distributed via curbside pickup, alcohol cannot. Lovejoy’s plans on continuing their bar once state regulations ease up.
“Liquor used to be a very big part of our sales but nowadays we’re finding ourselves selling more food,” Nutt explained.
Lovejoy’s Bar and Grill has been operating in Laramie since 1994 and doesn’t intend on letting the current pandemic stop them from sticking around. Many in the community love the restaurant and will continue buying food from them.
