Restaurants are now allowed to offer dine-in service after San Luis Obispo County got approval from the state to move further into the reopening process.
It's an announcement local businesses have been waiting for, and some restaurants, like Taste Craft Eatery and Petra, wasted no time implementing new, required guidelines.
"Took about a week or so to kind of figure that out, so we could be ready to re-open as soon as they gave us the okay, which was today," said Caitlin Chai, Taste Craft Eatery manager. "We found out the news, we notified the staff immediately, started putting tables and chairs back, started printing all of the different forms," said Rammy Aburashed, Petra family owner.
Retailers have to complete a self-certification checklist from the county in order to reopen.
The form helps to ensure businesses have gone through the process of enforcing new safety and health measures.
Some of the criteria includes: training employees on how to limit the spread of COVID-19, implementing cleaning and disinfectant protocols, and practicing social and physical distancing guidelines.
After months of only being able to offer take-out and delivery service, local restaurant owners say they're ready to welcome their customers back.
"Have all your regulars come in, drink beer, enjoy your food, it's different," said Aburashed. "Completely different when you have a takeout service and have to deliver food to people. It's completely different."
The San Luis Obispo County Health Department says businesses should have their checklist readily available for county inspection checks.
Even with restaurants reopening, bars are to remain closed unless they have in-house dining available.
