Our path forward

We are getting a lot of messages asking if we are okay and what can be done in these unprecedented times we now share. Let me start with this: I've been following this pandemic since it was contained in Hubei Province. I'm not shocked at any of this, and I'm totally thrilled that we are living in a place where extreme precautions are being taken early. It's the right thing to do, in spite of all the chaos it causes and the immediate challenges we all face. We've always known the ins and outs of public health, it's our job after all, and I'd like to thank Amy Acton for being a rock star.

Now, back to the questions at hand, how is this going to affect us, and what are we going to do about it. I am going to start with the latter. Many of you know that we took immediate and early action in this crisis and eliminated most contact in our restaurant. There was always a phase two on the ready, and believe it or not, we were planning on implementing it tomorrow anyway. Turns out that it is actually more than is required by good measure, and I am happy for that to be the case, the minimum has never been good enough. Here are some bullet points to explain:

* Starting tomorrow we are fully zero contact. We will continue taking orders at steamrollerbagel.com for both pick ups and delivery - we will continue to take pick up orders over the phone at 740.777.9145 as well. Have your credit card on the handy.

* Deliveries are paid in advance as well. We will let you know when we are coming and leave them on your porch. We would LOVE to say hi, we're all starved for human contact, but that simply isn't the way of the world. Send us a message and we'll text back and forth if you want to catch up.

* Not only is our dining area closed for seating, it's altogether closed. Your pickup order will be placed on a rack by the door. There will be zero entry beyond the racks for pickup orders.

*Nobody works sick. Nobody works if anyone is sick at home. Nobody works when they aren't comfortable. As a result our hours and days open might change. We won't let you place an order we can't fill, but for the safety of our loved ones and our customers we are taking extreme precautions, so if we aren't open, please don't be frustrated, be happy we admitted our limitations.

*You'll notice we eliminated our door handle. We now have a copper press plate on the outside and pull handle on the inside. Nobody makes these, we had to fabricate them, but the reason is that copper has the lowest survivability for viruses of any surface. That doesn't mean you ought to just love on it and rub it all over, you can use your sleeve or one of our wipes, but it does mean that we are REALLY thinking about you.

Finally, how is this going to affect us? I wish I knew. We hope you'll let us continue to creatively serve you and we'll all get through okay, but it's not going to be great, we know that much for sure. We know that closing will allow our employees to seek expanded unemployment, but that isn't enough to survive. We know we are being offered "low interest loans" but we're not going to do that. It would just delay inevitable pain. We are open to your ideas and we appreciate any time you might decide to take a break from your ramen noodles and canned corn to enjoy the safest possible hot steamy bagel sandwich that we can offer you. We'll stay in touch as we go! Thank you, for your love, for your support, and for your commitment to helping us all get through this.