Business View Magazine | June 2020

15 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2020 GULF COAST SEAFOOD ALLIANCE MEMBERS GET BACK TOWORK OPENING L INES Focus on Safety and Service During the COVID-19 Pandemic Florida members of the Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance (GCSA), an alliance of restaurants, hotels, fishermen, and seafood dealers tied to the Gulf of Mexico’s fishing economy, are beginning to safely reopen their businesses, prioritizing preventing the spread of COVID-19 and supporting those affected by the pandemic. Members are adhering to Florida’s reopening guidelines, which require restaurants to restrict indoor seating to 50 percent capacity and to space all dining groups at least six feet apart. GCSA member Dewey Destin , the owner of two seafood restaurants in Destin, Florida and a third in Navarre, Florida, first reopened his restaurants on May 4, saying he is comfortable with reopening “as long as it is done in a safe manner.” Destin made clear that his top priority is the health and safety of his staff and customers. To that end, all of his restaurant staff are required to wear masks, wash their hands every half hour, and have their temperature taken every day. His staff are also sanitizing condiment containers and menus between each use, and marking the floor near bathrooms to keep people properly socially distanced in line. Fishermen are still working, but prices are 30 to 40 percent lower than they were before the COVID-19 closures. To reopen his restaurants, Destin sourced grouper, snapper, oysters, blue Server John Gamer greets a customer reading social distancing guidelines outside of Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House in Destin.