Do New Jersey Restaurants Have a Time Limit?

News 12 New Jersey reports that some New Jersey restaurants are asking that customers only stay 90 minutes to make room for other customers. According to the current pandemic executive order by Governor Murphy, restaurants in New Jersey are still only operating at 50% capacity. This makes it difficult for restaurants to create more revenue. Restaurants like Old Glory in Keyport think to limit customers to 90 minutes from walk in will help them turn tables and make more money. Some customers are not happy with it and feel that they should be able to sit and dine however long they want. Will this be a new trend that all New Jersey restaurants will adopt? Maybe.

I was a server for a very long time. I worked at Applebees in Bridgewater and Hamilton, Houlihan's in Bridgewater and Lawrenceville and Daddy-O down in Long Beach Island. All restaurants had their pro's and cons but I overall enjoyed working at each one. When you're a server, it's inevitable that you will get "campers" from time to time. "Campers" is restaurant slang for guests who like to sit and take up a table way after they've been given the bill or stay way too long after their bill has been paid. Sometimes you drop their bill and they will wait a very long time to pay or they'll pay you and just not get up from the table. I've been stuck waiting for tables to pay and not able to go home until they do pay. If it's a busy time in the restaurant and a table stays there for a while, they would potentially be taking away more money I could have made off that table. People used to disagree with me all the time, but hey, it could be tough working at a restaurant sometimes. I was a good sever and I made good tips, so I usually tried to show my guests courtesy. That doesn't mean I liked campers, but I tried not to be rude and rush people out the door.