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Imagine sitting down to a restaurant-quality dinner in the fresh air, with a view of a green rolling hills, eating food grown and raised right on the property. That's the experience some farms and orchards are bringing to diners, many of whom are looking for safer dining options amid COVID-19.
When the pandemic began in March, the restaurant industry was hit hard. Although many restaurants have since reopened with a variety of precautions to ensure diner safety, farms and orchards are arguably some of the most attractive dining hot-spots this fall. These experiences feature farm-fresh menus and open-air, socially distant dining.
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"Our number one focus is the safety of our guests and employees, and thankfully, with our 25 acres, we are naturally socially distant,” says Kim Vollers, director of hospitality operations at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In addition to nearly exclusive outdoor seating on the farm (with indoor available upon request), the Los Poblanos team added outdoor hand washing stations, and placed lavender-scented hand sanitizer on each table made from the on-site lavender farm. “We've welcomed so many guests that tell us that this was their first dining experience since COVID began and how safe they felt,” Vollers says.
