Bleu Garten bar and food truck park will reopen with safety protocols in place. The business was hit hard by the pandemic restrictions, and looks forward to having customers again.
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Toasting to reopening: Some metro bars will welcome customers back Friday.
Known as Oklahoma's original food truck park, Bleu Garten offers folks a spacious, outdoor venue to eat, drink and have fun. But despite their open and airy concept, General Manager Anna Tran said they're not taking any chances.
“Our big concern was the bar pod. We usually have four open to serve everyone, but because of where it's located, we didn't want to open too many things,” Tran said as she showed FOX 25 around.
As a seasonal operation, Tran said they were only open for a few days before chaos ensued and businesses started closing their doors. She remembers the shock felt by staff and customers the night the Thunder-Jazz game was postponed.
"Everybody was just in disbelief,” Tran recalled. “We usually get a big crowd for Thunder games, not so much for home games. But we were pretty packed; it was our second night. And from there it's just been a whirlwind of an experience.”
The gates at Bleu Garten have been closed since, with staff forced to claim unemployment, while managers worked to come up with a game plan once they were given the all-clear. That plan is now in place.
"As you can see, Bleu Garten looks a little bit different than usual. All of our tables are at least 6-1/2 feet apart. Some I tried to make it seven or eight. There are some spaces where it's a little bit more, like 12 to 15, so a line can go straight through with keeping it six feet on each side."
There will also be a limited number of bartenders at each drink station and cones will be set up to space out traffic.
"We've encouraged our following that if they do want to come out, that they do that in a safe way.” Tran said. “And, we'll try to do our best to help them do that, as well."
Managers down the street at The Yard are also keeping their followers up to date. General Manager Kellan Onuscheck says they've opted to remain closed until June 1.
"We're really looking at the numbers and making sure that that's a real possibility. And, so, we're trying to open, make sure that everyone's social distancing."
Onuscheck says they don't want to be too hasty. Even though they're an outdoor venue, they're not quite as spacious as Bleu Garten, and they want to ensure they're going above and beyond health and safety standards.
"We've teamed up with a company called Mediclean Pro and they basically gave us a total sanitization system that allows us to spray the entire facility in 20-25 minutes after every shift and before every shift, which will kill the virus on any surface,” Onuscheck said.
Additional measures will be implemented between now and June.
They're goal, like Bleu Garten's, is to be as cautious as physically possible.
"We always want to make everyone here feels safe and comfortable."
Due to weather concerns, people are encouraged to check Bleu Garten's social media pages prior to visiting.
9-7-2021: Link to story about Bleu Garten closing:
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