SF moves to 'orange tier,' indoor dining opening today with restrictions
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Tuesday San Francisco announced the city is moving forward with reopening more businesses, and that includes indoor dining.
ABC7 News was at Piperade restaurant in San Francisco, where head chef and owner Gerald Hirigoyen brought out the tape measure to show us their setup of tables more than six feet apart.
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This, as the city announced that indoor dining at 25-percent capacity will be allowed starting Wednesday, now that it has been moved from the red tier of Gavin Newsom's reopening plan, to the orange one.
"It sort of took us by surprise because we kind of heard that the last few weeks," says Hirigoyen.
25-percent capacity, or 100 people max, is the rule for restaurants and also for church services.
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In a statement, San Francisco's Archbishop thanked Mayor London Breed, but called California's 100-person indoor limit 'unjust.'
If there is no change to the orange tier, movie theaters in the city will be able to open Oct. 7 without concessions.
"We're cautiously excited. We really want to reopen but we also can't rush into anything," says Roxie Theater operations manager Kelly Wiggin.
Wiggin's says they are taking a cautious approach and have yet to announce an opening date. The question now - Will people feel safe eating, worshiping, and watching movies at theaters and indoors?
"I think I would," says Kelly Howe of San Francisco.
Not everyone though feels that comfortable.
"Not yet, not until we have a better handle on containing this," says Todd Roehrman of San Francisco.
Hirigoyen says they are optimistic and hopeful that people will come out, but believes it could be a tough go with limited tourists in the city and no conventions.
"We are pretty happy about that, but it's only 25 percent. I don't know how much we're going to be able to generate with that, but hopefully it's a return to some kind of normalcy."
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