In recent weeks, California, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, and other local governments have repealed mask requirements for dining in and working at restaurants.
Some businesses, such as Texas Roadhouse Inc., the Cheesecake Factory Inc., and Applebee's, believe that removing mask mandates will benefit both businesses and employees. The facial coverings are hot and uncomfortable to work in, and not having to put them on between bites and sips motivates customers to dine out, according to Applebee's President John Cywinski.
Other restaurant owners expressed concern about alienating employees and customers by removing mask and vaccination requirements when allowed to do so. Some restaurant owners are still struggling to find enough employees to run their businesses fully, and they are concerned that relaxing rules will drive away employees who are concerned about their health.
Dan Connor, co-owner of Donovan's Pub in Woodside, N.Y., said that while most of his servers have stopped wearing masks since New York state repealed its facial-coverings mandate last month, his kitchen staff has mostly kept them on due to health concerns.
Mr. Connor said he has been looking for another cook for months and is thinking about updating the ad to include that masks can still be worn to accommodate workers concerned about their health.
"I'm trying to balance different points of view," Mr. Connor explained.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention softened its masking recommendations last month, keeping them as a recommendation in high-risk counties but allowing them to be dropped elsewhere.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first recommended that the public wear masks in indoor public places in 2020, and many states reinstated facial covering requirements for indoor settings during coronavirus outbreaks last year. Other states, such as Texas and Arizona, eliminated masking requirements last year and never reinstated them.
Last year, some cities took Covid-19 rules a step further, requiring restaurants and bars to only serve inside customers who had been vaccinated or had a negative test. Those proof-of-vaccination rules are now changing as well. In the last week, Chicago and Seattle have repealed such requirements. On Monday, New York City expects to lift its proof-of-vaccination requirements for indoor spaces.
According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, restaurants in areas of the country with fewer Covid-19-related restrictions have recovered faster than those in areas with more rules. Restaurant orders fell the most in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions last year compared to before the pandemic, owing to stricter regulations in those states.
According to Travis Doster, a spokesman for the Louisville, Ky.-based Texas Roadhouse, the chain's 670 restaurants have waived masking requirements where permitted because many of their customers didn't believe the facial coverings did much when frequently removed between bites and sips.
"Most of our guests have abandoned them," he explained.
Americans are divided on whether they should continue to wear masks. According to a poll of 1,005 adults conducted last month by Lisa W. Miller & Associates LLC, a consumer-research firm, women are twice as likely as men to agree that they will continue to wear facial coverings in indoor spaces even when they are no longer required. According to the poll, restaurants are one of the places where all respondents are most likely to be frustrated when they see customers who are not wearing masks.
According to Yelp.com, a business review platform, more than 228,200 restaurants in the United States still required masks or had their employees wear facial coverings.
According to the companies, Shake Shack Inc. and international chicken chain Nando's Peri-Peri are among those that still require employees to wear masks.
Cait Gurra, a 30-year-old immunocompromised Chicago activist, recently started a crowdsourced list of local venues that still require proof of vaccination or masks. Ms. Gurra expressed concern that the city's rules had changed too quickly.
"I wanted to be able to go to places where I felt safe." "And I knew other people felt the same way," Ms. Gurra explained.