Even if it's at limited capacity, restaurants in New Jersey will be allowed to resume indoor dining at 25%, effective September 4th, as per an early morning announcement by Governor Phil Murphy. There will be other safety guidelines that need to be followed as well, but it's at least a good start!
"Restaurants statewide will be able to open for indoor dining beginning this FRIDAY at 25% capacity and with social distancing between tables,” Murphy said in a tweet. “Reopening responsibly will help us restore one of our state’s key industries while continuing to make progress against #COVID19.”
Some restrictions on indoor dining include:
Patrons required to wear masks unless they are eating, under the age of 2, or have a health issue.
Staff members required to wear masks.
Tables spaced at least 6 feet apart.
Enhanced sanitation.
Guests placing orders only at a table and staffers bringing food and beverages only to tables.
Patrons barred from walking around while eating.
Limiting seating to a maximum of 8 customers per table — unless from an immediate family or the same household
Encouraging reservations for greater control of customer traffic.
Requiring customers to provide a phone number if making a reservation to facilitate contact tracing.
*details above from nj.com
Link to the original executive order in March: