Businesses in Milwaukee Co. set to reopen to customers: 'Make everything as safe as possible'

MILWAUKEE -- Businesses in Milwaukee County will be allowed to reopen their doors at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, May 22 -- except those located in the City of Milwaukee.

Maxfield's Pancake House is just one restaurant preparing to reopen its dining rooms Friday -- planning to have extra safety measures in place for customers.

FOX6 News spoke with several restaurant owners who are trying to decide what their safety precautions will be -- and will they be in place in time for opening on Friday. Some restaurants are putting up plastic partitions, allowing extra time to clean between serving customers, and limited the number of patrons allowed in.

Businesses in the City of Milwaukee will not be able to reopen at midnight however. Mayor Tom Barrett said the city needs more time to come up with a plan-- considering there are still many coronavirus cases and officials do not have a good handle on the spread.

In the meantime, restaurants bordering Milwaukee, including Cosmos in Wauwatosa, have been given the green light. The owner there is preparing a plan now to safely welcome customers back in the doors.

Spyrangelo Tselentis

"We're gonna reconfigure the restaurant to meet the times coming ahead and we just want to get everything set up and make everything as safe as possible for our customers," said Spyrangelo Tselentis, Cosmos Café employee.

Milwaukee Alderman Mark Borkowski urged Mayor Barrett to let city businesses reopen at midnight. The mayor is standing firm that it is too soon. However, he will be sharing guidelines for reopening sometime in the next few days.