When the COVID-19 crisis turned the hospitality industry upside-down, these two historic establishments made use of overlooked spaces just steps from the front doors.
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The chef at the Nonantum Resort had long wanted to create an outdoor kitchen, but with ample indoor options, it hadn’t happened at the venerable Kennebunkport inn.
About 100 miles up the coast, on the St. George peninsula, the new owners of the Craignair Inn by the Sea planned to renovate the restaurant, but that was still a few years down the road.
But, as with everything else in the hospitality industry, things are different now.
Both the Nonantum and Craignair, facing a stripped-down tourist season this year did what many other businesses have since March, when COVID-19 restrictions were put in place — they called an audible.
Outdoor dining is now a major feature at both inns, a way to draw customers and create revenue.
“We just looked at all this beautiful space and said, ‘Why not?’” says Tina Hewett-Gordon, general manager of the Nonantum.
The COVID-19 quick pivot business model isn’t unique to the two inns, says Steve Hewins, CEO of HospitalityMaine, which represents the state’s lodging and restaurant industries.
“Right now, businesses are looking at any way to generate business that will help them survive,” he says. “As they say, necessity is the mother of invention and, in light of the restrictions, Maine’s restaurants and hotels are coming up with many new ways to use outdoor and indoor space more effectively and efficiently.”
Magical nights
The Nonantum, which first opened July 4, 1884, has a huge lawn that slopes down to the Kennebunk River. In past summers it’s been dotted with white Adirondack chairs. Now the chairs are sharing space with six dining cabanas.
The six cabanas — each named for a Maine county by Hewett-Gordon’s 12-year-old daughter — seat up to eight. They’ve got mesh on three sides to allow for airflow while providing privacy and are decorated with white tulle and lanterns. They also come with a blanket and bug spray.
Dining isn’t all that’s done outdoors. Chef Steve Sicinski is also cooking at an outdoor kitchen.
When Hewett-Gordon talked to Mainebiz in mid-June, the Nonantum had been serving outdoors for six nights, all sold out.
“It’s been six magical nights,” Hewett-Gordon says.
‘Now’s the time’
Lauren and Greg Soutiea, looking to get away from the corporate grind, bought the Craignair in late 2018. The 22-room inn, in St. George’s Spruce Head village, was built in 1928, originally to house workers at the granite quarry on Clark Island, which it overlooks.
It also has spectacular views of the Atlantic and the southern Penobscot Bay islands. A causeway leads to Clark Island and a path that loops around the old quarry and a pretty sand beach. The island is in the process of being preserved by Maine Coast Heritage Trust and it’s had a lot of visitors this season.
They planned to renovate the restaurant and add a small cocktail bar in three to five years. There were more pressing projects first.
When they had to close in March, “We said, ‘Now’s the time,’” says Greg.
They finished the renovations, including a walk-up window on the porch, in mid-June. The next step is lawn tables. They plan to open for diners before the Fourth of July. They’ll also offer homemade ice cream, beverages and sandwiches to walk-up customers. The restaurant has a new name, the Causeway and Clark Bar.
Early concern
Lauren Soutiea has a master’s degree in public health and spent more than a decade in public health data and research analysis. In late February, she became concerned about the spread of the coronavirus.
She says, “I wasn’t freaking out or anything, but…”
“She was freaking out,” Greg says, with a laugh.
Lauren knew that if the virus spread as predicted, it could affect travel and the inn’s revenue. She called the bank, but their lender wasn’t concerned.
It was still on the Soutieas’ minds, though, and when they were forced to shut down in March, they were prepared.
“We decided right away we had to keep it shut down and renovate the restaurant,” Greg says.
They enlisted a designer friend, as well as Lauren’s parents — her father is a retired woodworker — and did the work themselves, adding a small bar, tearing up the carpet and redoing the floors, painting and adding wainscoting, and the outdoor service window.
Time to do something different
When it became clear in May that the state’s reopening was going to be a slow process for the hospitality industry, “We said, ‘OK, we’re going to have to do something different,’” says Hewett-Gordon, of the Nonantum.
Sicinski, the chef, “dreamed it, and we built it.”
Marshall Rentals in Kittery had six 10-by-10 tents available. The Nonantum snatched them up. There were also large tents available, and the resort is using one for the outdoor kitchen.
The town government extended options for outdoor dining, including waiving the ordinance that only allowed tents to be up for 30 days.
The original plan was to use outdoor dining to add space to indoor dining, which has strict capacity limits. But that plan was derailed in late May when the state put restrictions on indoor dining in York, Cumberland and Androscoggin counties.
The Nonantum staff crossed their fingers that it would be a nice summer.
While the indoor dining restriction was recently lifted for the three counties, Hewett-Gordon says the outdoor restaurant is still the focus and things will only move indoors if the weather is bad.
Looking closer to home
The Soutieas had big plans, pre-pandemic. In February they got a grant that would cover 25% of a solar installation. That was going to be the first big project. They have a two-year window if they want the grant money, but they have no idea if they’ll be able to do it by then.
They also planned a greenhouse on the lawn, a way to grow more of their own vegetables for the restaurant.
Since March they’ve had to return more than $10,000 in reservation deposits and several weddings for this summer have been canceled.
It’s the same story at the Nonantum. Usually this time of year, before summer business really heats up in July, the 109-room inn is at 75% occupancy. In mid-June it was 6%. A slew of weddings have been canceled, Hewett-Gordon says.
Out-of-staters must either quarantine in-state for 14 days before they can book a room, or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.
Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont residents can stay at Maine inns without restriction, but Hewett-Gordon and the Soutieas said those states account for a tiny percentage of their market.
Both places, like many in the state, have upped their marketing to those close to home, offering discounts and more.
Both inns got Payroll Protection Program loans from the federal CARES Act.
“It allows us to do what we’re doing,” says Hewett-Gordon.
Greg Soutiea says if they hadn’t gotten one, and the term for it to become a grant hadn’t been extended, “we wouldn’t be here right now.”
‘People need to trust us’
Both places, like many inns, hotels, motels and restaurants, are also stressing they have health and safety measures that go beyond the state’s checklist for lodging, required to be open to customers.
Kennebunkport developed its own safety badge system, and the Nonantum is following all the rules to the letter in an industry that’s traditionally required to focus more on health than most others, Hewett-Gordon says.
“If we weren’t clean, people wouldn’t stay with us,” she says. She is not alone in being frustrated by the quarantine and testing requirements for out-of-staters. “People need to trust us,” she says.
The Soutieas are requiring masks in public areas, as well as a slew of other health and safety measures.
“If people don’t feel comfortable with that, then we’re not the place for them,” Greg says.
There are positive signs. Lauren recently told a guest coming from North Carolina about the testing requirement, and they responded that they were already intending to get one. She says she hopes as other states up testing, it won’t be a big issue.
Becoming permanent
The Nonantum and Craignair plan to make the outdoor dining options permanent.
Hewett-Gordon says she hopes that other businesses will find similar solutions. “Don’t be afraid to be flexible,” she says.
Hewins, of HospitalityMaine, says many businesses that are doing something new will keep doing it once the crisis has passed.
“I think many of these ideas will become important parts of the post-COVID hospitality world,” he says.
Hewett-Gordon says, though, the focus now is to make it to fall, when many hospitality businesses hope increased visitor traffic will salvage something from the lost summer.
The outdoor dining has been “a joy,” she says. “But it sustains, it doesn’t replace.”
The Soutieas were concerned guests would be stressed by the health and safety measures. So far, though, guests have told them that they’re finally able to relax.
The couple has wondered many times since March whether leaving their corporate life in Boston to buy an inn on the Maine coast was worth it. They’d run through disaster scenarios, but nothing like this.
“But we’re here,” Greg says, shrugging.
Lauren adds, “I’m really proud of what we’ve done. We hope we’ve created a place where guests feel safe and comfortable, and they can escape.”
Hewett-Gordon says it would have been easy to just shut the Nonatum down for the duration.
“But this gives people a glimmer of hope that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” she says.
Even more important, the dining cabanas are an oasis. “The rest of the world is crazy, but when they’re here, things seem normal.”