Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery will adjust its plan for football game days with safety protocols for the COVID-19 pandemic — hosting game day watch parties at just 50 percent capacity.
Customers will be required to wear a mask unless they are sitting at their table, as will staff members. Hand sanitizer stations will be positioned throughout the restaurant and tables and chairs are not allowed to be moved in order to maintain social distancing rules set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tables will open up for reservations starting at noon on Sunday the weekend before games. Customers can make a reservation online.
All tables will have a minimum reservation fee based on the number of seats at the table — not the number of people in the party. On top of that, each seat will cost $25, but this money will be turned into a credit that can be used for food and beverages during the game viewing period.
The game viewing period starts half an hour before kickoff and ends half an hour after the game is over. Top of the Hill owner Scott Maitland said he hopes game day will run smoothly with this new operation.
“That’s why we’re doing online reservations where people pay in advance, so people don’t have to crowd in the lobby," Maitland said. "They already know not only that they have a table, but when and where they can sit down.”
Maitland also said Top of the Hill has never done online reservations before, but “it’s a brave new world,” and the coronavirus is unpredictable.
UNC sophomore Luke Hines plans to watch a UNC football game at the restaurant with a group of friends.
“I think it is a smart thing for them to do, as they can manage the volume of foot traffic at a given time,” Hines said.
