Fitzpatrick’s: The excitement and anxiety of reopening after lockdown

Perhaps, after everything the country has gone through together, there’s a certain feeling of, “actually, we are all in this together after all”.

By and large, we seem, as a people, to be taking just a moment extra these days to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and consider their situation. Mostly.

Paudie McFadden, general manager at Fitzpatrick’s Bar and Restaurant in Rockmarshall, which reopened its doors for the first time since March 15 last Monday, has seen it firsthand for himself over the last few days.

It’s in the small things, he believes. The things that, when added up, make someone’s working day that little bit easier during an admittedly very stressful period. Paudie proffers the example of the 105 minute guideline for patrons visiting a pub right now.

It’s a delicate one to approach when you think about it in the context of any social setting. It’s not as simple as telling someone to get up as soon as 105 minutes has elapsed.

“To be honest, I just tell all my staff that we just have to try and use common sense,” explains Paudie, speaking to the Democrat this week. “If you have a table of six people and they’re just after spending say, for instance, €200-€250, you’re not going to say after looking at your watch and it’s 105 minutes gone - ‘right you have to get up’. You have to look at the hospitality side of it as well. Customer service is our main thing.”

Understanding

But, the customer understanding seems to be there already, Paudie says, with hope.

“At the same time, I have to say the majority of our customers understand things before they even go into the place. People are nearly saying to you ‘aw listen, we’re nearly finished up here and we’ll get up and get out of your hair’. In terms of that, it has worked.”

As ever though, there’s always a few bad apples there, ready to be an exception to the rule. Paudie says it’s a very small number though.

“There has been a small minority, where people are thinking, I don’t care, we’re paying to be here and we want to stay and that’s it. It has been very, very small though - two customers between Monday and Friday,” Paudie recalls.

“A lot of people seem to be very understanding and they’re (guidelines) saying you're only allowed to drink if you get a substantial meal worth €9. A lot of people are understanding of that as well.”

Paudie is, it would appear, a born optimist. He was, he says, a mixture of excited and anxious on the morning Fitzpatrick’s was allowed to reopen last Monday. But it took effort and sweat to even get to that point.

“First of all we had to assess the whole place to get a look at how things were. Then we had to look at what sort of numbers we could hold. Then, how we were going to socially distance everybody and then after that we had to start removing tables from the restaurant. We removed close to 25 tables. We have every table in the whole restaurant spaced-out. We have perspex up at reception and all along the bar. We had to remove all our bar stools. We have hand sanitizers at every doorway in the entire building.”

Even these measures don’t seem to have exhausted Paudie’s chipper nature. But how was he the morning of the reopening?

“On Monday I got up at half seven. Myself and the head chef met up and we went through different things. We were a wee bit anxious, but as it came closer to the time of opening our doors, I was very excited. To get the doors open, to get people back working and the place back turning a few quid. We have a massive local hub out here who would have celebrated Communions, Confirmations, birthdays, the day after wedding parties, it was great to see those faces back in the door as well.”

That community feeling cannot be underestimated, Paudie adds. Pubs and restaurants such as Fitzpatrick’s mean a lot to the people of the area.

“There was a couple that were in with us,” Paudie begins, by way of an example to highlight this. “They rang me. They didn’t go through the website. They rang me two days after we announced we were reopening and they said ‘Paudie, we’re going to get down Monday evening if possible, or Tuesday evening and we were chatting away and she said they loved the place and she was telling me this is where they had met and they had the day after their wedding here too. They had their kids’ Christening here too and Communions here. It’s great to hear stories like that.”

While welcoming the local community back is great, an ability to pay the overheads is what will keep the lights on. It’s no mean feat right now. But Paudie says it’s working so far.

“We had a bistro menu that was so big and at the minute, just for the next couple of weeks until things pick up a bit more, we’re looking at a reduced menu and that will save costs straight away.”

He continues: “We’re also running a reduced drinks menu, whereas before we had so many options on draft - we had 13 options on draft - and I cut it down to seven so we don’t have stock lying in fridges.”

March 15th was a tough day for everyone at Fitzpatrick’s. Paudie remembers calling all the staff together when the doors closed.

“I called them all in and I said that obviously with the current situation going on we’ve no choice but to close and every member of staff was very understanding. Even before the Government announced a payment scheme, everyone of them said they understood.

“At the start of it everyone thought it was just going to be for two weeks, but obviously it ended up a lot longer than that. Even the customers were understanding. Everyone was messaging us saying they can’t wait to see you open again and we’ll come back and give you business.”

As the weeks passed, rumours and fear crept in. The idea of perhaps never being able to reopen did creep into his head, Paudie reflects.

“There was that much uncertainty and there were that many stories going round. There were people saying that whenever you reopen, you’re only going to be able to have half of what you had before. There were people saying you’ll only be allowed three people in the kitchen and all that and I was saying to myself, is it sustainable for us to go on the way they were going? But then guidelines came in, which thankfully worked out for us.”

While large corporations usually come in for bad press when it comes to dealing with small businesses, the likes of Diageo and Heineken, and even Coca Cola showed understanding and support, Paudie adds.

“Within two weeks of closing, Diageo contacted to see what was the story with the kegs and they came and took all the kegs away and credited us back whatever the value of the kegs was there, even kegs that were half used.

“Coca Cola said there’s a bit of a balance there, but don’t worry, it’ll be the end of July before you have to worry about anything.”

But, even local suppliers showed empathy and did what they could.

“Hugh Murphy of Carnmore Meats got in contact. We were expecting a very busy weekend coming into Paddy’s weekend, you had the Six Nations and stuff like that there and Paddy’s Day was falling on a Tuesday, so it was almost a bumper week for everyone. He came back in first thing on Monday morning and took all his meat and credited us back everything and the same with Country Fresh, and everyone else came back and took all their supplies back.

“And they were the first ones to come back and say look we’ll come back and supply yous, but there’s a bit of leeway there, we’re not going to come banging on your doors straight away, just get over it. That’s the main thing.”

So, how has business been since Monday?

“We’re just not running at full numbers as we normally would, but as things are going at the minute, we’re still that busy, we haven’t laid off one person. We’re able to retain everybody. Now, the part-timers mightn’t just be able to get as many hours as they were getting, but hopefully with changing regulations we can get them back in and get them a few hours.”

Monday through Thursday was very busy, Paudie says and the weekend just gone was looking the same. What’s the next step?

“We haven’t opened our wee bar yet. We’re going to hold off for another couple of weeks before we open it. It’s like a local bar, in fairness all our locals have been very understanding about everything and now that the restaurant is open that’s the first step in getting back to the way it was.”

Continuing to help local businesses is something Paudie is now passionate about - he’s seen how it helped Fitzpatrick’s at a difficult moment.

“Now, more than any time else, everyone needs to support local shops and local business and especially people will go on holidays in Ireland more often and tour Ireland a bit more and bring in a bit more tourism.”