Seafood Restaurant Starts Curbside Service In Time Of Coronavirus

GAINESVILLE, VA — A popular seafood restaurant in Gainvesville is providing curbside service to residents who need their seafood fix but are practicing social distancing to contain the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19. Starting Wednesday, Blue Ridge Seafood is closing its dining room and will be offering carryout and curbside service in response to Gov. Ralph Northam's announcement Tuesday of a 10-person limit at restaurants and bars.

The family-owned restaurant, located on Lee Highway, has always offered carryout but has never provided curbside service. "This week is the test to see how it works out," restaurant manager Kyle Donovan, whose grandparents opened the restaurant in 1979, told Patch.

Over the past week, business has been down. Donovan placed a sign in front of the restaurant last week when the toilet paper panic-buying began, hoping to draw business to the restaurant. "Don't panic! We have lots of seafood and toilet paper," the sign read.

With its indoor dining temporarily closing, Donovan is hoping customers take advantage of the curbside service. Customers can call Blue Ridge Seafood at 703-754-9852 to place orders. Upon arrival, customers are asked to park in designated spots and then give the restaurant a call to announce their arrival. Workers will then collect payment and deliver the order to the customer's car.

At a Tuesday morning news conference, Northam said his administration is asking restaurants and bars to follow the rule of no more than 10 people. "Obviously, a lot of resturants will have more than 10 people in them. That's just the way they operate," Northam said. "If that's the case, we're not mandating that they close, but we're encouraging that they use takeout ordering so that people won't be inside the confined space."

Located at 15704 Lee Highway, Blue Ridge Seafood sells fresh local seafood, blue crabs, Alaskan snow crab legs, shrimp, oysters and whole Maine lobsters.

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The restaurant posted a video on Facebook Tuesday informing the community about the restaurant's decision to close the dininig room.

"This was obviously a tough decision ... but we want to put the safety of our community and our employees first," Donovan says in the video. "However, we are a small family business. We have employees and families that rely on the income that they make at our restaurant in order to support their family. With that in mind, we have decided to continue the carryout portion of our restaurant and offer curbside pickup for our guests."

Donovan said the restaurant also is working on a plan to provide delivery service to residents in the community. Along with seafood, the restaurant serves steak and chicken dishes. Gift cards are available and can be mailed to customers if they call the restaurant.

"Please help us. We are small family business," Donovan says in the video. "We want to continue to provide for our employees and we want to provide for our community and we want to be able to stay open during this tough and difficult time."

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