Please note the framing of my remarks about Little Caesar's:
that they are an example of something that works well for germ control. I was intentionally careful to not frame it as "Everyone should eat at Little Caesar's."
I was homeless for years. Dine in is problematic when you are homeless. You get profiled and thrown out of places when you show up with all your bags.
I also mostly didn't like eating in restaurants while homeless because of my health issues. People are awful about doing things like blowing their nose at the table without warning in a crowded restaurant (for which there would already be a de facto death sentence if looks could kill and you are doing it near me).
I generally tried to find open air picnic tables, got my food to go and ate it at some outdoor public seating area. I don't see any reason why we can't do more sidewalk care style seating generally.
I live in a really small town and have no car. The Denny's shuttered its doors a few days ago. The grocery store where I sometimes got self-serve soup has eliminated all self-serge food. The McDonald's inside the Walmart has been closed.
I'm seeing my options shrink dramatically. Little Caesar's and hot premade deli food from Walmart and a grocery store have been my takeout options of late. Fortunately, I recently reacquired a grill just as this was all beginning, so I have some limited cooking ability as well. For about a month, I was entirely dependent on takeout.
A week or so ago, the staff at the local Little Caesar's was clearly very stressed about the possibility of going out of business. Their business has picked up and, for the first time ever, I am seeing pizza boxes in their pizza portal warming ovens. Staff stress levels have come down.
Everyone there seems to know my first name and act like I'm their best friend. I've been a regular here lately, in part because other options aren't available to me.
I want to support them in part because they have the freshest dough of any large American chain. They make it in house daily.
Because they are takeout and delivery only, they have less overhead. The food is better quality and cheaper and the food is more hygienic.
Whatever takeaways one can come up from their business model may well separate the wheat from the chafe in coming months. No one has money. Everyone needs to be worried about germ control. Finding business models that combine cleanliness, high food quality and low cost instead of asking you to pick one or two of those would be extremely helpful in getting us to the other side in better shape and more able to face the future.