A Wichita sports bar closed as COVID-19 escalated. Now, owner says, he has to reopen
Four weeks ago, the owner and staff at Side Pockets — a giant restaurant, bar and pool hall at Kellogg and Tyler in west Wichita — were at a COVID-19 crossroads.
Cases were spiking in Wichita, and the Wichita City Council had just passed a mask ordinance that customers were selectively following.
It all felt like too much, so the bar’s owner — Keith Unger — decided to temporarily re-close the business. In a Facebook post on July 10, the reasons were outlined.
“The continued rise in COVID-19 cases in Wichita, coupled with the fact that our team has been placed the difficult position of having to enforce the wearing of masks in our establishment, has raised our level of concern for the health and wellness of our employees, guests and the community in general.”
Now, a month later, the business has reopened. Its first official day back in business is today — Wednesday, Aug. 5.
Unger said that he feels like he’s in an impossible situation and is sure other restaurant owners do, too.
The concerns are still there, but so are the bills. Competitors are mostly open, and staff members were starting to consider looking for other jobs.
“What we were worried about is that some of our staff were going to competitors that were staying open,” he said. “I don’t know how they were able to stay open, but we were worried about losing them, so we said, ‘Let’s give this a shot.’”
Across Wichita, most restaurants have fully reopened for dine-in, even as COVID-19 remains a concern. Some have continued to keep their dining rooms closed, focusing on to-go only. Side Pockets was among a few that chose to take a pause.
Of those that remained open, many are reporting slower traffic and occasional trouble with customers flouting mask polices. Several have even decided to temporarily close because of COVID-19 infections and exposures among the staff.
Unger said that he wished he knew exactly what was the right thing to do. He said he also felt pulled by his core of regular customers, who’d remained supportive on social media through the closure.
“We don’t know the answers,” he said. “We are winging it. I wish I could tell you I was a genius. But we don’t want to win a battle and lose a war. A lot of people just want some semblance of normalcy.”
As it reopens, the bar will ask customers to follow the city’s mask ordinance but “we’re not going to be there with a baseball bat” enforcing compliance.
“We’re going to put something on the door saying, ‘If you want to be here, we want you here. If you don’t, we don’t,” he said. “If you’re not comfortable, don’t go out.”
With 13,000 square feet of space, the bar is enormous, so people can be spaced out, he said. He’ll also resume offering pool. (The business has 30 pool tables.)
His company is healthy, Unger said, so he could afford to be closed down for a few weeks for what he called a needed reset. He feels for other businesses who don’t have that luxury.
To state the obvious, he said, it’s not an easy time to be in the food and drink business.
“I think the one thing I could say to summarize this whole thing is that we don’t know. We don’t know what to do,” he said. “We’re making the best decision we can with the information we have now.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 10:47 AM.
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