LANCASTER, Pa. — Filet mignon to-go didn’t used to be a common option.
“I think that’s a meal better served to be eating in,” said Cornel Rogers, a resident of Baltimore, Md. who ate out for the first time in a year at Belvedere Inn in Lancaster on Mother’s Day.
But takeout food took off during the pandemic, when many restaurants turned to to-go options to survive amid coronavirus restrictions.
“We are new-age American fine dining cuisine and a lot of restaurants like that, you don’t typically rely to to-go food to keep you afloat, but we had to,” said John Costanzo, managing partner of Belvedere Inn.
Belvedere Inn began offering takeout exactly a year ago, on Mother’s Day weekend 2020. The restaurant, which prides itself on presentation, had to learn how to re-frame a plated meal in a paper box.
“It’s interesting. We had to do some upgrading of our to-go ware to make sure that when the guests were getting home with the boxes that it was hot,” Costanzo said.
Belvedere Inn adjusted its in-person dining seating and built several outdoor dining pods.
They will soon be able to again fill all their tables with customers, as Pennsylvania is set to lift the remaining COVID restrictions for businesses on May 31.
Even now that restrictions are set to end soon in Pennsylvania, takeout isn’t going away.
Nearly 8 in 10 diners say they’ll continue ordering delivery and takeout as much as they now, according to a BentoBox survey.
Twenty to 30 percent of Belvedere Inn’s business is now takeout, Costanzo said. The entire menu will continue to be offered as a takeout option.
Lancaster resident Trevor Sutton said he loves the restaurant’s takeout and will keep ordering.
“The lobster bisque! Amazing,” Sutton said.
Diners will still have to wear masks when not sitting at a table. Gov. Tom Wolf said the mask mandate will be lifted once 70 percent of Pennsylvanians are vaccinated.