GREENSBORO, N.C. — Late night to-go orders will have some changes in Guilford County come Friday.
Guilford County amended its local State of Emergency to prevent people from waiting inside restaurants for order pick-ups after 10 p.m.
The amendment still allows to-go orders from restaurants after 10 p.m. but customers must wait for their orders outside the restaurant or in their cars.
The Governor's statewide curfew means restaurants must close by 10 p.m and stop serving drinks at 9 p.m.
County leaders along with Greensboro's mayor said the Governor's Executive Order 183--which allows takeout for mixed drinks--created a loophole.
"The manager would say, well these people are waiting for take-out orders which is an exception in the Governor's order," Skip Alston said.
"There was really no way to prove or disprove that," Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan said.
Guilford County Board of Commissioners Chair Skip Alston said the idea behind the State of Emergency amendment was to make the curfew more enforceable.
"The officers now will have a clear direction as to what they can do and what they can't do," Alston said.
Vaughan said the amendment should not affect businesses that are following the rules.
"I mean the curfew is at 10 p.m. so everybody has to be (home) at 10 pm. I don't see really a need for it but I guess it just reminds people and helps them try to stay safe," Chris Lester said.
Lester owns Natty Greene's Downtown and said their last call for drinks is at 9:45 p.m. to respect the curfew.
Sam's Oven and Grill is one of the few Greensboro restaurants that is staying open past 10 p.m.
Delivery driver Timothy Abrams said they've seen a slight uptick in late night customers with other restaurants closing early.
Sam's offered curbside pick-up early in the pandemic but had since gone back to allowing customers to wait inside.
Abrams said they started moving back to curbside last week due to rising cases in the Triad. The county's amendment is playing a role in the decision now too.
"I don't think once we initiate it and kind of shut the inside down, I really don't think there's gonna be that many issues out of it," Abrams said, "The first time that we were doing the curbside, we kind of really got a good routine going and I'm hoping this time we get that same great routine going and hopefully it will be just as easy as it was."
Restaurant owners who violate the new amendment will face fines and could even get shut down after repeat offenses.
The new amendment takes effect at 5 p.m. Friday but remember--it only applies to to-go orders after 10 p.m.