Patrick’s Grille in Michigan City has provided a tremendous fine-dining experience in a casual atmosphere since 2015. As COVID-19 has plagued the restaurant industry, Patrick’s Grille decided to offer options to deliver food to customers due to the restrictions on in-person dining. General Manager Julie Krause and the rest of the staff had to make some tough decisions to make it through the pandemic.
“We had to lay off some of our staff,” Krause said. “We had to cut back on some of the services we provided during that first part of the pandemic. It was a very difficult time, but we think it’s getting better.”
Once in-person dining ceased on March 17, 2020, Krause and the remaining staff began to offer curbside pick-up and delivery to customers still craving comfort food amidst the strangest time in recent memory.
“We had several requests, especially from some elderly guests that were not comfortable coming out,” Krause said. “We were looking for ways to keep our staff employed, and also increase business during the pandemic. We also worked with other local restaurants to provide meals for non-profit organizations who were in need.”
Once restrictions began to lift later on in 2020, Patrick’s Grille took the necessary precautions to ensure that they not only followed the CDC guidelines, but went beyond that to ensure their customers felt safe when returning to Patrick’s Grille to dine-in.
“At first we provided low cost, comfort food options as part of our curbside services and worked with other local restaurants to provide meals for non-profit organizations that were in need,” Krause said. “Once we were able to open for dine-in services, we removed tables to create the required six-foot distance between guests, and we have added partitions between our booths to create a separation for our guests. We worked hard to not only meet, but exceed the current CDC and local health department regulations, and we will continue to do so moving forward.”
These efforts from Krause and the rest of the team at Patrick’s Grille have continued as the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its one-year anniversary. The goal to return to some form of normalcy will be helped by the efforts of local businesses like Patrick’s Grille.
If you are interested in ordering curbside pickup from Patrick’s Grille, give them a call at (219)873-9401, or if you are interested in dining-in, they are open Tuesday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
