Boxed Up: Antico Pizza To-Go
On any given night, before mid-March, the smell of baking pizzas, garlic, and basil would fill the entryway. The line would be long, sometimes stretching outside and down the ramp. Today, there were only two people ahead in line. A sign with red letters read, “No Guests Allowed.” Hanging plastic sheets guard the once full dining room as it sits vacant, taped off from guests. The small eat-in room separated by glass from the cashiers is eerily empty. A few college-aged kids come in to pick up an order, happy to take their pizzas home with them.
I am greeted with warm eyes, above an N95 mask, from the cashier. The restaurant is operating cashless, using their computerized cash register for payments. I order my personal favorite, the Diavola, and take my pizza across the street to Café Antico’s outdoor patio, where I am the only guest. Antico Pizza Napoletana has remained a staple since its opening in 2009 in the college neighborhood of Home Park. This once-thriving pizzeria has succumbed to the demands COVID-19 restrictions have required.
This small business is just one of the hundreds of restaurants that depend on the community’s support to keep their doors open. Restaurants have had to adapt, protect the health of their guests and staff members, and figure out a way to remain in business. About a month or two ago, a sign on the door read, “Carry Out Only.” Curbside pickup or carry out has been just one-way restaurants that have been able to stimulate some form of income during these unprecedented times.
In an interview with Tanya Klich of Forbes, chef, and restauranteur, Tom Colicchio says, “America’s restaurant industry needs an additional $440 billion bailout to survive.” The meek income restaurants have generated during this pandemic hasn’t been enough to ensure the reopening of America’s restaurants. President Trump did sign the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that would provide temporary relief to small businesses across the country. But as COVID-19 continues to inhibit a restaurant’s ability to operate at full capacity, the outcome is dismal.
The manager, Gigi was unavailable for a response, but one employee, Anthony says, “They provided us with tons of masks and gloves.” The staff, dawning their masks, set up the cushions on the patio. One guest, Tyler H., sported fluorescent pink hair while seated with her daughter as they enjoyed the Margherita D.O.P. pizza. Tyler says, “I probably came twice a month, but this is my first time since early March.” Antico depends on its regular customers, college students, and tourists looking for the best pizza in Atlanta, but today the lines are all but vanquished.
Antico has, however, implemented a new dining style. The customer would once take their order ticket and find their place in the dining room or on the patio. A staff member would deliver the fresh, bubbly pizza to the table on a metal sheet tray. Now, we wait for our boxed pizza to take home or to mosey to the empty patio. The threat of contracting COVID-19 at Antico Pizza feels relatively low. Antico Pizza is following the regulations of the Georgia Restaurant Association. Tyler says, “They seem like they have done a great job.”
The requirement of restaurants for guests to wear a mask would be improbable if the guest is sitting down to a table. Food can’t go through the mask. But what about when waiting for take-out? Lina P. recovered from COVID-19 in March. Since she has not gone out to bars or restaurants. Lina P. did, however, venture out to Antico Pizza in June. There, Lina says, “There were six people ahead of us. Originally, we had planned on sitting outside across the street.” After ordering, Lina P. noticed that half the guests weren’t wearing masks. Lina P. says, “I hid in the closed dining room to get away from no mask people. I wish they would mandate masks because their place is very small, and people are all next to each other while we wait.” They didn’t stay to eat at the tables across the street.
Eater Atlanta posted an article by the Eater Staff on July 1st about the reemergence of COVID-19 and how many restaurants are reclosing their doors as employees are testing positive for the virus. Eater Atlanta says, “Georgia restaurants and businesses are not bound by law to disclose to the public when a member of staff tests positive for COVID-19 and are not mandated by the state of Georgia Department of Health to close. Closing is voluntary.”
The staff of Antico Pizza remains vigilant in their pursuit of a healthy environment, for them and the guests. One issue that lurks in the back of every employee’s mind is whether they will have a place to return to after this pandemic has passed. Each restaurant reclosure is that much less income the staff and owners earn, not to mention the long line of distributors and markets, whose income depends on restaurants buying ingredients.
