Some restaurants have nixed takeout, but that doesn't mean to-go food and booze are gone for good

Before March 2020, many upscale and fine dining restaurants did not offer takeout options. 

That changed quickly after the coronavirus-induced lockdowns began and fast-changing rules shuttered or restricted most indoor dining in the U.S. Eateries that had never offered meals to-go or delivery, such as New York’s beloved Italian-American red sauce temple Carbone, pivoted to takeout to stay in business.

But as COVID-19 vaccines have become widely available and most indoor dining is back, Carbone and many others just as rapidly discontinued takeout to refocus on “normal” operations. Not every eatery is following suit, but these in-person only operators are hardly alone.

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Takeout menus can vary from in-person dining

At the opposite end of the spectrum is Downtown Grocery, a haute Southern-influenced farm-to-table specialist in the popular ski resort town of Ludlow, Vermont.

Downtown Grocery was widely considered one of the best restaurants in the state, pre-COVID-19. During the pandemic, it pared down the menu and staff, leaving only the chef and his wife to prepare a limited number of takeout meals scheduled for specific curbside pickup times, and brought right to the car – which often sold out days in advance.

After experiencing the restaurant business without staff, the owners have come back with a hybrid, continuing takeout and offering in-person dining just four nights a week, with chef Rogan Lechthaler cooking solo and his wife, Abby, bartending. They reduced the number of tables to make this more intimate service approach possible and to maintain social distancing.

As the restaurant explained on its website: “Almost eleven years after opening The Downtown Grocery in Ludlow, we are using this moment in time to evolve our business and our lifestyle. Having leaned into take away in April of 2020 until June 2021 with only Rogan cooking, we have relished family dinners with our young children over the past year-plus and found that creating our dream schedule IS possible.”

Between the two extremes sit large operators like MGM Resorts with more than a hundred restaurants, from quick-serve to fast causal to five-star celebrity chef gourmet spots, across its Las Vegas resorts.

During the pandemic, MGM built a mobile ordering app and greatly expanded takeout at its more modest eateries and is still adding fancier ones, bucking the trend seen in many other cities.

“We will continue to offer the option of takeout from our restaurants for guests looking for that experience," spokesperson Jenn Michaels said. "Our mobile ordering program right now is focused on our fast-casual and casual venues, which is where we see the greatest demand for that service. Our goal is to expand that service into some of our fine dining rooms in the months ahead. There are likely some restaurants that don’t lend themselves to a mobile experience, so we don’t imagine it will be every restaurant, but our hope is to make many available.”

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Many restaurants are following suit, returning to indoor dining while continuing takeout that was not available before. This means that in many cases, consumers will have more dining options going forward than they did before the pandemic. 

“Delivery was first a pivot for many restaurants, but now an important add-on revenue stream,” said Ahmass Fakahany, CEO and founder of fine dining specialist Altamarea Group, which owns New York’s acclaimed Michelin-starred Marea and Ai Fiori, as well the Morini and Nicoletta brands in Washington, D.C.; New Jersey; and Miami.

“At Altamarea Group, we embraced the evolution around delivery early. We will continue offering and enhancing delivery options, even in our high-end venues. We will do both," Fakahany said. "Delivery used to be only to satisfy hunger or a meal period without going out. Now ... the quality and options have increased exponentially. The client expects better quality, and the delivery option can now also be to host a dinner party or plate dinner for a family. It has gone to the next level in terms of options and in terms of its role in the household dining.”

In some cases, this is made possible by a pared-down menu, another phenomenon many restaurants first experienced out of necessity but are embracing going forward.

Brooklyn, New York’s Ugly Baby, a Thai eatery, reopened for in-person dining with a modified version of the concise takeout menu launched earlier in the pandemic, and the owner told Eater New York that it is here to stay.

While some restaurants streamlined menus, others created special family-style meals in lieu of a la carte for pandemic takeout, and some combined myriad approaches.

The Pandering Pig is a French/Northern California fusion eatery on Manhattan’s far Upper West Side (and a favorite of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who gave it a cameo in his new film "In the Heights").

Chef-Owner Nicole O’Brien said the restaurant created "chef boxes" with curated menus posted on the website each week. Each item was plus-size, par-cooked in most cases and ready to reheat. The box order was $45 minimum and came with a baguette, greens for the wet salads and organic fruit.

"They were extremely popular and sustained us throughout the pandemic," O’Brien said. "We plan on continuing the service as we have requests for them all the time.”

For reopened in-person dining, O’Brien switched to a $65 four-course prix fixe weekend dinner that rotates but is made up of her most popular a la carte menu items from pre-pandemic days.

Smaller menus are here to stay 

Smaller menus and more focus on nightly specials are easier for restaurants to plan food inventory, and many owners expect them to stick around.

In New Orleans, a similar pandemic creative approach that took hold was the collaboration between Ralph's on the Park and Red Fish Grill, along with other local eateries owned by the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group. Spokesperson Simone Rathle explained that “Ralph’s on the Park is not a takeout restaurant, but a fine dining neighborhood restaurant. They pivoted quickly during the pandemic, offering enhanced to-go meal options and family meals rotating on various days of the week."

Rathle said the central location of Ralph’s on the Park prompted food and meal collaborations with other restaurants in the group, such as Red Fish Grill, for pickup at Ralph’s on the Park. Ralph’s on the Park is still offering curbside pickup meals "based on the popularity of this option."

Takeout booze's future varies based on local laws

Takeout adult beverages are another fast-changing pandemic-inspired option, with some eateries already forced to eliminate them by local laws.

About three dozen states opted to allow restaurants to serve to-go alcohol during the pandemic, which took many forms, from discounted bottles of wine to canned beer to creatively packaged craft cocktails.

But many of those exemptions have expired, though more than a dozen states and Washington, D.C., have made the to-go allowance permanent, according to CNBC. 

'Ghost kitchens' continue to grow

One trend that flourished during the pandemic that is widely expected to continue is the growth of “ghost kitchens,” delivery-only restaurants that may offer full menus but not in-person dining. Fueled by the appeals of low rents in off-the-beaten-path warehouse locations and no service staff, décor expenses or public-facing facilities, this concept began years before the coronavirus and was growing, but really took off during the pandemic with the explosion of food delivery.

“I think we’ll continue to see what’s been successful for restaurants in 2020, i.e., delivery and takeout, curbside pickup and of course, outdoor seating,” said Will Lucas, CEO and founder of Mint House, a chain of hybrid apartment hotels in 10 major cities across the country, in which many customers use food delivery. “I also think some restaurants, if they haven’t already thought about it, will consider incorporating a ghost kitchen model into their business. Ghost kitchens have been on the rise since the beginning of COVID and will remain a popular option offering new restaurants a reduced cost in real estate and labor, and existing restaurants an opportunity to expand into new areas with a lower-risk way.”

Mail-order food another way to get restaurant favorites on demand

Another pandemic trend that is likely to stay with us is the move by more well-known restaurants into the mail-order space.

Just as people at home relied heavily on services like Amazon for pandemic home delivery of goods, more turned to restaurant fulfillment sites like Goldbelly.com for eating “out” at home. For example, Phoenix’s legendary Pizzeria Bianco, rated by many critics and lists as one of the nation’s best pizzerias, took the leap into shipping frozen versions of its thin-crust pies.

Owner and James Beard Award-winner Chris Bianco is such a perfectionist that for years he would not allow takeout because he felt his pizzas were best eaten within minutes of leaving the oven, so this was a seismic shift. Pizzeria Bianco pies are available via Goldbelly, the nation’s largest retailer of dishes from iconic eateries.

The list of celebrity chefs offering food on the site has exploded.

“Post-pandemic, I think that options like to-go, online ordering and services like Goldbelly.com will stick around,” said Texas celebrity chef Tim Love, owner of Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Woodshed Smokehouse, Gemelle, Ático, Love Shack and White Elephant Saloon.

Overall to-go food landscape has changed for good

The consensus among restaurateurs seems to be that the future will include an expanded range of options for consumers and a little bit of everything, from the return to of traditional fine dining to previously unavailable takeout to more at-home restaurant-style meals.

Jon Bonnell is the executive chef and owner of Bonnell’s Restaurant Group in Fort Worth, Texas, where he operates three very different concepts: Bonnell’s, a Texan fine dining restaurant; Waters, a seafood specialist; and Buffalo Brothers, a pizza and chicken wing joint.

“I think the restaurant experience that we once knew has been slowly evolving over decades but has massively accelerated its transformation this past year. In the future, we’ll see more QR codes, less formality in exchange for digital options and an overall emphasis on home-meal replacement. To-go options, fast grab and go, streamlined online ordering and delivery will all stay at these elevated levels for the foreseeable future," Bonnell said. "Fine dining will still exist, but likely with other sales outlets and enhanced alternatives like curbside pickup meals and to-go options.”