• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Skip to navigation
Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Connect
    • Custom Events
    • Slack
    • RSS
    • Send us a Tip
  • Advertise
  • Consulting
  • About
The Spoon
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Advertise
  • About

Front-of-House Igloo? Chicago Asks Residents to Redesign the Outdoor Dining Experience for Winter

by Jennifer Marston
August 27, 2020August 27, 2020Filed under:
  • Business of Food
  • Coronavirus
  • Delivery & Commerce
  • Featured
  • Restaurant Tech
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

We’ve said it multiple times in the last couple of weeks: winter is coming for outdoor dining. And when it arrives, restaurants may be even more limited as to how they can serve dine-in customers in the midst of a pandemic and reduced capacity mandates for the dining room.

Chicago, a city that’s no stranger to harsh winters, is preemptively dealing with this situation by challenging residents to redesign the outdoor restaurant experience. Dubbed the Winter Design Challenge and done in partnership with IDEO, BMO Harris Bank, and the Illinois Restaurant Association, the contest is looking for outdoor dining ideas that can adhere to safety restrictions around COVID-19 while still allowing restaurant customers to eat outdoors.

Participants can submit ideas through September 7. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office told NBC Chicago that winners will receive $5,000 each and “opportunities to start their idea at restaurants and bars around the city.”

Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, added that, “We need out-of-the-box thinking to address the hardship facing our industry.”

We’ve seen some of that outside-the-box thinking already in the restaurant industry, from outdoor self-service kiosks to greenhouse-like buildings that enclose individual tables. But winter weather provides a whole new set of challenges that a few heat lamps may not be enough to solve. 

A panel of local judges will pick one winner from the following categories: outdoor structures; indoor-adjacent spaces; and cultural change/other ideas.

Ideas are already pouring in, including heated tent rentals, blankets, solar-powered pergolas, and actual igloos. There are also several suggestions to simply not open, which underscores how divided the general public remains about eating in restaurants in the time of a pandemic.

Submissions will be accepted through September 7 at 11:30 PST. All suggestions should address on-premises dining, not delivery or takeout.

Whatever winning solutions emerge from this could provide a blueprint for other cities around the country when it comes to addressing the upcoming winter. Chicago may have a reputation for harsh weather, but it’s hardly the only city in the U.S. to endure snow, ice, and sub-zero temperature. It wouldn’t be surprising if more cities launch their own challenges in the coming weeks in a collective effort to pull the restaurant industry through the changes and prevent even more from having to permanently close their doors.


Related

Grubhub Launches a New Grant to Get Restaurants Ready for Winter

Grubhub today announced the Restaurant Winterization Grant, a new program that will provide financial support to restaurants as we move into winter and outdoor dining becomes a challenge in many areas of the country. Done in partnership with The Greg Hill Foundation’s Restaurant Strong Fund, the program will grant $10,000…

Al Fresco Vs. To Go

Outdoor dining: an opportunity to innovate or a yet-another huge expense for restaurants? The whole restaurant industry is pondering this question as we head into fall and start prepping for winter. I wonder if restaurants might not be better off forgoing the whole debate and instead keeping their focus fixed…

Survey: Restaurants Should Expect to Serve 4 Types of Customers in the Coming Months

Roughly one in three Americans look forward to dining in restaurants again over the next three months, but different customers have different standards for what the new era of eating out should look like. So says restaurant tech company Sevenrooms, which today released a new survey entitled “Restaurant Reckoning: Dynamic…

Get the Spoon in your inbox

Just enter your email and we’ll take care of the rest:

Find us on some of these other platforms:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
Tagged:
  • front of house
  • on-premises dining
  • restaurant dining rooms
  • restaurant tech

Post navigation

Previous Post First Amazon Fresh Grocery Store Opening in Woodland Hills, CA
Next Post From Wiz Khalifa to Tyga, Are Celebrity Ghost Kitchens the Next Big Thing?

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Get The Spoon in Your Inbox

The Spoon Podcast Network!

Feed your mind! Subscribe to one of our podcasts!

Could Lasers Made From Olive Oil Be The Next-Gen Freshness Detector or Use-By Label?
Leanpath CEO: The Fight Against Food Waste Enters Its ‘Second Act’
The Grocery Store is the Food System
Nearly Seven Years After Launching Kickstarter, Silo Finally Delivers Next-Gen Home Food Storage System
What Flavor Unlocks

Footer

  • About
  • Sponsor the Spoon
  • The Spoon Events
  • Spoon Plus

© 2016–2025 The Spoon. All rights reserved.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.