Reopening and COVID safety procedures.

Vigilantes:
As of March 10th, 2022, we are fully reopen for both indoor and outdoor seating. Our team will continue to wear masks up through the end of March, and we will ask our patrons to follow the City of Austin’s recommended guideline of wearing a mask while not seated at their table through March 20th (the end of spring break and SXSW).

Thank you all for remaining flexible and helping us to keep our community safe! We optimstically look forward to operating in a new normal.

Appreciatively,
Preston Swincher, CEO

PREVIOUS COVID ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Vigilantes:

With the City of Austin in Stage 5, we have made the decision to temporarily close our dining room as of January 6th, 2022. We are seeing an unprecedented number of breakthrough cases among restaurant staffs across the city that have lead to restaurants closing due to labor shortages. The health and safety of our team is our top priority. While we know that this will lead to a reduction in business revenue, we are still committed to paying our team a living wage.

Local guidelines suggest that the best way to mitigate the spread of COVID is to stick to outdoor seating. We will continue to serve patrons to-go and on our patio (space heaters included!). Thank you all for the continued support of our local business.

Cheers,

Preston Swincher, CEO

Vigilantes:

As of September 9th, 2021, we have made some updates to our COVID procedures:

• All patrons are required to verbally confirm that they either have a COVID vaccination OR must provide a negative COVID test from the past 48 hours
• Patrons who do not wish to do either of those things are welcome to dine outside OR enjoy our menu to-go
• All patrons are required to wear a mask while they are not seated at their table. We recommend wearing a mask while not eating/drinking.
• All Employees are required to wear a mask.
• We are operating at limited capacity to encourage social distancing, and are slowly increasing capacity

Thank you all for your ongoing patience as we try to find the best path forward through COVID. You can find prior COVID updates below.

Thank you,
Preston Swincher, CEO

Vigilantes:

As of June 14th, 2021, we have made some updates to our COVID procedures:

• Based on updated CDC information regarding the spread of COVID-19 via physical touch, we no longer UV-C games between plays
• Employees are now only required to wear a mask if they are not vaccinated; they may continue to do so on a voluntary basis
• We continue to limit reservation table stays to 2.5 hours
• We are operating at limited capacity to encourage social distancing, and are slowly increasing capacity
• Masks are no longer mandatory for our patrons or staff; however we will support any staff member or patron who would like to continue wearing a mask for any personal reason

Thank you all for your patience and support throughout COVID. We are humbled and grateful to still be here. Below, you will find our previous COVID guidelines, which we reserve the right to return to as needed.

Appreciatively,
Preston Swincher, CEO

The backbone of our safety precautions is this document by the Aspen Food & Beverage Society, backed by the James Beard foundation and guided by an infectious disease specialist. This document, combined with other research, lead to our comprehensive safety plan. It includes 18 pages of:

• Guidelines for how we are handling reservations, payments and game rentals
• Employee guidelines on PPE, handwashing, sick leave and more
• Facilities guidelines on how we are sanitizing Vigilante

Furthermore, we have made several MASSIVE changes to our operations in preparation for re-opening, we have:

• rebuilt our entire seating social hall, shifting away from bench seating to booth seating
• built a complete reservation system, allowing patrons to select a game from our library prior to your visit and to book tables in advance
• installed several thousand dollars worth of HVAC upgrades, increasing air flow and implementing commercial grade UV-C air purification

No matter what the City or State have set as the current recommended interior capacity, we voluntarily operate at 25% capacity. This is the only way to ensure proper social distancing between tables. To reduce chance of exposure, we are limiting reservations to 2 hours and 15 minutes (giving us 15 minutes to sanitize between parties). Seating is limited! If you do visit us, know that:

• You will be required to wear a mask while interacting with staff or when not at a table
• You will be the only party to handle your table or your game that evening
• We will have a large variety of new procedures, including contactless payment, QR code menus, single use menus, and hourly sanitization drills

We understand that not everyone is prepared to break isolation: we respect that choice and wish you safety and health. If you feel we’re opening too early, we urge you to contact governor Abbott’s office, as well as your Senators and Congressman. Please tell them that small businesses should have the support to stay closed in the interest of public health. 

For those that want to go out, know that we are prepared to serve you as safely as possible. That being said: we will have no tolerance for those that disrespect the health of those around them, whether they be our own staff or our patrons. 

When you next visit Vigilante, things will look different. There will be new processes, new furniture, face masks, hand sanitizing, new food and new games. However, some things will always be the same: the same level of care, our drive to improve and our belief that games and restaurants will always be able to bring people together.

Stay safe, and we look forward to gaming with you.

Preston Swincher

Vigilante Gastropub & Games, CEO