Igloos and Greenhouses Launch in West Loop, Kicking Off Cold-Weather Shift for Chicago’s Outdoor Dining

Original photography by Kevin Conway.

Original article posted at Chicago Tribune by Adam Lukach

With the arrival of cooler weather in Chicago, restaurants and bars are beginning to make accommodations to lengthen the outdoor dining season, an attempt to retain expanded capacity during an era of coronavirus occupancy limits indoors. Five prominent restaurants in the Fulton Market district began welcoming guests to dine “al fresco” in igloo and greenhouse structures Oct. 16.

Beatrix, Duck Duck Goat, Gus’s Fried Chicken, Kuma’s Corner and the Publican make up the participating restaurants in the Dining Together, Apart initiative, an effort from Anheuser Busch and Stella Artois to help restaurants extend their outdoor dining service into the colder months. Diners were seen using the spaces the previous night as part of a soft opening, and the initiative officially kicked off Friday.

The structures themselves are transparent. The igloos are wrapped in a plastic dome, while the greenhouse “pods” are rigid house-like structures. A large mural from artist Shepard Fairey’s Studio One covers Fulton Market between the restaurants — which are either opposite or adjacent to one another along the block between Green and Peoria.

These types of structures can help mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19 to fellow diners, but a real risk remains for the service workers, said Alvin Tran, Sc.D., MPH, and an assistant professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy at University of New Haven.

“If someone in the igloo is positive, it would protect the other people at the restaurant, but it doesn’t protect the people coming in and out of that space. While (these structures) are probably great for people who already live together, it does pose a risk for restaurant workers,” Tran said.