ALPENA — Finding an open seat at a restaurant just got easier, thanks to a decision this week by state officials to open indoor dining to 50% capacity, starting today.

The increase follows a month in which dining establishments could allow indoor seating — but only at a quarter of dining room capacity — and several months’ complete closure to indoor dining to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

In Northeast Michigan, where restaurant owners got creative and worked long hours to keep cash flowing when they had to keep customers at a distance, loyal patrons have helped keep their favorite restaurants open, even while some questioned the need for businesses to be closed in the first place.

Flexible plastic sheeting hung in see-through walls between booths at Nick’s Southside Diner on U.S.-23 South in Alpena on Thursday.

The restaurant couldn’t afford plexiglass, according to manager Barbara Woodham, who said the diner felt the pinch of restaurant shutdowns in 2020.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Yellow “caution” tape keeps diners at a distance as diners Michael and Elisabeth Hunt enjoy lunch at Jimmy Chen’s Hunan Chinese Restaurant in Alpena on Thursday.

“They shut us down and opened up and shut down and opened up,” Woodham said. “There’s only so many times you can do that and be OK.”

The diner’s customers have kept the business afloat and haven’t complained about mask regulations, Woodham said.

Some restaurants, unable to make ends meet, closed and never reopened, said Ron Kemp, of Atlanta, as he waited for his hamburger in a booth at the diner.

The government shouldn’t have forced restaurants to close in the first place, Kemp thinks.

At Jimmy Chen’s Hunan Chinese Restaurant on M-32 in Alpena, masked customers scooped food at a buffet. Others sat in the dining area, where several tables were crossed with yellow “caution” tape.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Manager Barbara Woodham checks on customers Ron and Debbie Kemp at Nick’s Southside Diner in Alpena on Thursday.

Diner Elisabeth Hunt, of Lewiston, said it was her first time in a restaurant in more than a year.

She felt comfortable eating out, said Hunt, biting into a crab rangoon.

The older generation has been told to stay home, avoid church, and keep their distance from one another, even at the funeral of a friend, Hunt said.

“They need to open up the places so we can get back together again,” Hunt said, “and let the people decide.”

At Tim’s Place, in Atlanta — where the sign outside the door still reads “Elk Crossing Cafe” — the daily specials on Thursday were cinnamon-raisin French toast and all-you-can-eat goulash.

Polishing off what he called the best breakfast he’d eaten all year, Ron Edwards, of Lewiston, said he worried about small businesses like Tim’s Place surviving the pandemic.

If mom-and-pop restaurants are shut down, big mortgage companies ought to shoulder the economic fallout, Edwards said.

Dianne Badarak, dining with Edwards, questioned the state’s decision to include regions like Northeast Michigan — where coronavirus cases have been relatively low — in statewide mandates such as restaurant closures.

“It was working where it needed to work, but, I don’t know,” Badarak said. “This place is small anyway, and then they shut it all down?”

During the summer, the restaurant’s owners had to work all day, every day for several months to keep income flowing while other employees had to stay home, according to waitress Grace Wiekrykas.

A self-proclaimed hugger, Wiekrykas said she thinks the restaurant will be OK, but she hopes her customers can get out of their homes and be together again.

“I’m going to start a movement called ‘6 feet closer,'” Wiekrykas said. “You can be in it, if you want.”