Re-Opening and Expanding Capacity

Hospitality Minnesota is advocating directly with the Administration and legislators for the expansion of operations. Events, which are critical to operators in all three sectors and driving economic recovery, must be expanded. We are working independently and in coalition with efforts by the Minnesota Chamber, Greater Minneapolis Hotel Association, Meet Minneapolis, the Downtown Council, the MN Events Coalition, and others to push for ​​expanded event capacity now. 

Our other immediate priorities include increasing restaurant table size to 10, opening bar seating in Minneapolis, extending hours of operation, expanding dining capacity beyond 50%, and expanding pool capacity to 50%. We are advancing work to allow resorts, campgrounds, houseboats and outfitters to be as open as possible for our upcoming tourism season, so we do not repeat the closures of last spring.
 
Senate Jobs Committee. Hospitality Minnesota member Terri Huml (Gianni’s Steakhouse) testified before the Senate Jobs Committee on SF1, (Sen. Mathews) a bill that would remove the current capacity restrictions in the Executive Orders and allow businesses to utilize safety plans, social distancing and enhanced sanitation instead.
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Ms. Huml has been a strong leader on the Hospitality Roundtable, advocating for our industry with the Governor and the Department of Employment and Economic Development. Watch her testimony. Thank you to Jobs Chair, Senator Eric Pratt for working to move this issue forward.
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House of Representatives. Bipartisan conversations—led by Rep. Baker—are ongoing in the House of Representatives about how to best convince the governor and the Minnesota Department of Health to move forward in a phased approach, given the improved state of the public health data. Expect more on this in the coming days.