Patio rules leave local restaurants half-empty
On warm days when downtown East Lansing is bustling, the patio at Dublin Square Irish Pub is often at capacity.
But because of a city ordinance many local restaurants want to see rescinded, the inside of the restaurant is half-empty.
“When we have someone who wants a seat, and we have a full patio, they see half the restaurant is empty, but we have to tell them we have no seats left,” said Paul Vlahakis, owner of Dublin Square, 327 Abbot Road. “That’s bad customer service.”
The city of East Lansing requires all businesses to reserve the same number of open spaces inside a location as the number on a patio.
Vlahakis said he would like to see the outside capacity not count toward the inside capacity, a change that only can be made through a long process involving the City Council and the East Lansing Planning Commission, City Attorney Dennis McGinty said.
City officials said the rule is in place to protect customers on a rainy day.
“If it starts raining, people are going to go inside, then the business is over occupancy,” said Tim Schmitt, an East Lansing community development analyst. “Because we have such large patios in East Lansing, it has an actual impact on the people inside if everybody comes in.”
Trisha Riley, owner of Harper’s Restaurant & Brewpub, 131 Albert Ave., said she can understand the reason for the rule.
“If it’s a football Saturday, and it starts raining, we wouldn’t be able to bring everybody out immediately,” Riley said. “And to kick someone out because of that is bad customer service.”
Vlahakis said it becomes an issue when trying to bring business to East Lansing.
Okemos, Haslett and Lansing also have occupancy rules, but they enforce them differently.
“We would have no way to police that,” said Troy Langer, senior planner of Meridian Township, which requires its businesses to provide extra parking for customers on a patio, Langer said.
East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis said it would take a change in philosophy by the City Council for the rule to be altered. Part of the reason for the rule comes from a concern that the concentration of people is too high in some establishments, he said.
“There’s always a question of safety when considering how many people you want in a certain area,” Loomis said.
Published on Monday, March 31, 2008
Comments
Frank
04/01/08 @ 2:35am
Like the lady from Harper’s knows anything about customer service.
Budrick Jones
04/01/08 @ 6:21am
Frank may have just said the truest statement I’ve ever heard in my life…
John B.
04/01/08 @ 7:37am
Two things here… (1) As a former Harper’s employee, Frank hit the nail on the head. (2) When will American government stop catering to and regulating the stupid. If a customer is on the patio and gets caught in the rain, and there are no seats because the inside is full…that’s not bad customer service, that’s a customer that’s stupider than the other hundred or whatever who decided not to risk getting wet.
Matthew
04/01/08 @ 9:24am
Let me try to understand this – and please, if you get it explain – EL wants to draw business into the city. But, when businesses tell the City an ordinance hurts business, the City won’t do anything about it. In fact, “it would take a change in philosophy by the City Council” to help local business? And exactly why does the planning committee have influence over ordinances? No wonder this town can’t get its crap together.
Gunson
04/01/08 @ 10:15am
HAHA Frank is dead on. I love taking my family to Harper’s when they visit, but even at lunch you have to plan on spending 2 hours there…. raining or not
Casey
04/01/08 @ 11:12am
I don’t want to beat a dead horse… pulls out stick, but I will. Harper’s has the worst service of any restaurant I’ve ever been to. And not just sometimes, it’s consistently like that. It’s one of the few things I don’t miss about the town.
confused
04/01/08 @ 12:00pm
The city of East Lansing requires all businesses to reserve the same number of open spaces inside a location as the number on a patio.
What does this line mean? That the capacity is to include the inside and outside, or that for every person sitting on the patio, that there has to be an open seat for them inside also?
Lyle
04/01/08 @ 12:19pm
How about just requiring the restaurant to keep on hand enough rain coats to distribute to those who chose to sit on the patio on a rainy day. Problem solved, without hurting business on the vast majority of days. Government micro-managing is entirely stupid – this is a business decision.
clarified
04/01/08 @ 12:54pm
Confused: It means that there have to be enough empty seats inside the establishment as there are occupied seats on the patio. That’s why the article reports that they have to turn people away when they have empty seats inside if their patio is full.
Parker
04/01/08 @ 2:14pm
By ordinance, the city of East Lansing actually requires Harpers to have awful service, cold food, and disgusting beer. And for some reason, the city also requires my department to always want to go there for happy hour. Bastards.
Matt
04/01/08 @ 5:39pm
Does this mean that the patio outside of the Peanut Barral will be closed in the summer as well? I don’t see the point of summer anymore.