The Barn rolls out delivery service

BURRTON—Burrton’s popular restaurant, The Barn, closed its dining room as of Monday but is still serving customers with take-out and delivery orders within Burrton city limits.

“We’ll see how that goes and we’ll probably expand that in the next couple weeks,” owner Lesley Matlack said.

This expansion would probably go as far as neighboring towns like Halstead or Haven, she said. The challenge would be ensuring food is still hot and delicious when it arrives.

“I worry about food quality,” Matlack said. “I don’t want to serve nasty or soggy food.”

Even before they closed down their dining room, The Barn had seen a drop in customers the past two weeks, with business not being anywhere close to a normal week, Matlack said. They had spaced dining tables further apart to meet six-foot distancing requirements.

“All of our hands have been raw from constantly washing them and using hand sanitizer and wiping down surfaces,” she added.

Staff is continuing its sanitary precautions even though customers are no longer coming inside.

“I want to be confident that we’re still delivering a clean product out to their cars,” Matlack said.

Normally, The Barn has about 60 people on its payroll, but this has been reduced to just eight, according to Matlack. She added that she’s been working a lot more hours there since she’s the “free labor.”

She noted that she was worried about her employees that had been laid off and had encouraged them to apply for unemployment.

The Barn has cut back its hours to 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. They’re closed Sundays for the time being and have also stopped serving weekend breakfast.

“It’s been challenging, for sure,” she said.

The Barn is also now offering online orders and payment on the FoodBooking app, or you can place an order by calling 620-463-8056.

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