Sandy and Dave McGuire opened a drive-thru window at the Oregon Trail Restaurant on Thursday as they seek new ways to attract customers during the coronavirus pandemic, which led Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to close restaurant dining rooms on March 17.

Sandy McGuire struggled for words to explain the situation to her longtime customer, for whom the Oregon Trail restaurant is something like a second home.

The customer showed up, right on schedule, one morning even after the coronavirus pandemic had closed Oregon restaurants’ dining rooms in mid-March.

“It was heartbreaking,” Sandy said. “Some of these people only see each other here. They didn’t know what was going on.”

And customers weren’t alone in feeling confused and uncertain over the past month, said Dave McGuire, Sandy’s husband. Dave McGuire and Mark Linderman are co-owners of the Oregon Trail restaurant and its adjacent motel of the same name in Baker City.

“A roller coaster,” was Dave’s description of their recent experiences. “I’ve never dealt with anything like this before.”

That was on Wednesday morning, the day before the Oregon Trail’s new drive-thru window, on the west side of the restaurant, opened.

Diners can call in an order and pick it up at the window, or place their order when they arrive.

On Friday morning Dave said the drive-thru’s debut was successful.

“A lot of people were excited and happy,” he said.

Dave said he and his wife decided to hire a contractor to install the window because although the Oregon Trail has offered takeout and delivery meals since restaurant restrictions started on March 17, those options haven’t come close to making up for the business lost from the closed dining room — even with help from Elkhorn Taxi to deliver meals.

The restaurant also lost substantial revenue from large banquets and other catering jobs that were canceled.

“We’ve got to do something to build the business back up,” Dave said. “At this point I’d try anything.”

He had to lay off 10 of the restaurant’s 14 employees almost immediately after Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued the executive order on March 17 that closed restaurant dining rooms as well as bars.

Dave said he had many pounds of corned beef ready for the St. Patrick’s Day special.

“I had to turn it all into hash,” he said with a rueful smile.

Both Dave and Sandy, who have owned the Oregon Trail for 13 years, said laying off their employees was the most difficult part of their adjustment to the pandemic.

That decision, they said, was harder than working 12 to 14 hours every day for a month has been.

And it was harder than turning away customers, most of them senior citizens, who gather most days at the restaurant for the sort of social gathering that is as common at small-town family restaurants as chicken-fried steak and biscuits and gravy.

“There was a feeling of letting people down,” Sandy said, referring to the layoffs that resulted when the restaurant’s revenue plummeted to almost nothing in a single day.

“That affected me more than anything,” Dave said of the need to lay off employees.

The couple has applied for a federal loan through the Payroll Protection Program. If the loan is approved, they’ll be able to immediately rehire all their employees, Dave said.

They expected to find out Friday if they’ll receive the loan, he said.

The restaurant won’t need the full staff to handle takeout orders, but he said there is plenty of work to do — a comprehensive spring cleaning that’s already in progress.

Dave said he’s grateful to Glacier 45 Distillery in Baker City, which shifted from producing vodka to making hand sanitizer, and donated bottles of the product to the Oregon Trail and to other local businesses.

Dave said he initially was optimistic that the closure would last maybe a few weeks.

He decided to take advantage of the empty restaurant to paint the walls, install new lights and — perhaps most appropriate under the circumstances — new sneeze guards at the salad bar.

“We went into maintenance mode is what we did,” Dave said.

Sandy said they were also considering replacing the tables when it became clear that the shutdown would last longer than they expected.

Rather than incur more expenses with no immediate return on the investment, the couple looked at a window near the entrance that was big enough to accommodate a drive-thru.

The modification cost money but at least it has the prospect of attracting more customers, Dave said.

“I think it’ll make a difference,” he said. “We’re excited about the drive-thru. We don’t want to get left behind.”

Dave admits, though, that he never had any intention of running anything but a traditional sit-down family restaurant.

Window or not, he said, “we’re not a drive-in restaurant.”

Dave said that once the pandemic restrictions cease, he plans to close the drive-thru and resume regular in-house dining.

In the meantime, the couple is revamping the menu to focus on items such as hamburgers and salads that can be prepared relatively quickly — a key for customers who don’t order ahead, since he doesn’t want diners to have to wait a long time to get their food.

Dave said he’s concerned that even when restaurants can reopen their dining room — Brown has not announced a timeline — that business will not rebound immediately.

Summer is vital because the increase in tourism helps sustain the restaurant through the slower winter, he said.

“I’m afraid it’s going to be a slow crawl to get back to where we could have been,” Dave said.

Sandy said she knows many other local businesses are facing the same predicament, and she empathizes.

The McGuires said they appreciate the local customers who have continued to patronize their restaurant, as well as their employees, some of whom have offered to volunteer their time.

“We’re very thankful to everybody who has stood behind us,” Sandy said.

Daily menus and drive-thru hours — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed on Mondays and Tuesdays for now — are posted on the Oregon Trail Motel and Restaurant Facebook page.

“We’ve got to do something to build the business back up. At this point I’d try anything.”

— Dave McGuire, co-owner,  Oregon Trail Motel and Restaurant

Supporting local businesses

Baker County’s coronavirus website — www.bakercountycovid19.com — includes links to lists of local restaurants offering takeout and delivery. The website also has links to sites where business owners can apply for loans and other financial assistance.