Bar, brewery owners in discussions with state on how to safely reopen for business

Discussions wrapped up Tuesday evening in Fort Myers on how to reopen bars and breweries safely.

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation met with bar owners to talk about how to do it responsibly.

Millennial Brewing Company is changing.

“They come in, they can tell the spacing they need to maintain, there’s hand sanitizer on the table, staff is wearing a mask, where cleaning,” said owner, Kyle Cebull.

His goal is to make his customers feel safe but admits the last few months have been rough on his bottom line.

“It’s like your fighting two battles— you’re fighting this regulatory battle that’s trying to keep the public safe but you’re also fighting a perception battle— the perception of people thinking all bars and restaurants are closed,” he explained.

Tuesday, Cebull joined with other brewery and bar owners to voice their worries about the future. Listening to them — the Florida Department of Business and Regulation.

“The things we were talking about were mostly about communication,” Cebull said. “The agency says go do these things and you get x result, giving us the means and contacts to be able to talk to the right people, get the right information and then execute on it.”

While Millennial Brewing is open for business, many breweries and bars are still closed. Listening sessions like the one on Tuesday are designed to help them reopen.

“They’ve put in a new process where every new application and every new request was being processed in 48 hours,” Cebull said. “We want to make sure people walk in and immediately they can tell we’re doing as much or more than is necessary to make sure the community is safe.”

He said he even went so far as to add a new filtration system to keep his business safe for customers.

No one from the state would talk about Tuesday’s meetings.