Morning Journal/Deanne Johnson While many restaurant owners are eager to get business off the ground again, Courthouse Inn and Restaurant owner Renee Lewis continues to stay cautious.

LISBON — As Friday marked the first day that restaurants could begin outdoor dining again in accordance to Gov. Mike DeWine, many local businesses are ready to get the ball rolling. With the financial repercussions caused by the coronavirus, a lot of owners are also getting ready to open up dine-in services starting on May 21.

However, while many restaurants are jumping right back in, The Courthouse Inn and Restaurant owners, Renee Lewis and her husband Michael Spirtos, are taking a more cautious approach.

“We’re staying closed because we aren’t comfortable with the timeframe for opening,” Renee Lewis said. “We want to see how people respond to other restaurants and how healthy people are able to stay. I think the best thing for us to do is wait this out and see what happens.”

While the restaurant is able to open its outdoor patio, Lewis said they have just nine tables out there. Because everything is cooked from scratch, the full staff would need to come in and cook the food, which would be too much for too few people.

In terms of opening the dining room on May 21, Lewis is worried about that as well, having a smaller restaurant. Implementing six-foot distancing inside, they would only have about seven tables available.

The Courthouse Inn and Restaurant is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant that does not have much of a local clientele according to Lewis. The majority of their customers are from out of town, since the menu is unique. That is part of the reason why they have not been doing carryout orders either. Lewis doesn’t believe that people would travel in to get carryout.

“We didn’t get into this to make money, honestly,” Lewis said. “It’s a vanity project. I’ve wanted to turn people on to fabulous vegetarian food. We don’t even think in the same way that other owners might think.”

While the restaurant isn’t generating her only income, Lewis’ greatest concern is the lingering of the virus, and she is very hesitant to put her own people and her visitors at risk.

“We aren’t going to open until we feel like it is completely safe to do so,” Lewis said. “And to be honest, we don’t want people who are unhealthy in our space either. I don’t want to jeopardize my staff because people aren’t taking this seriously.”

While Lewis is excited for the eventual reopening of the restaurant, she believes that their decision to remain closed lines up with their beliefs about the food they serve. She said their number one priority isn’t money, it’s educating people in a safe manor.

“Being a vegetarian restaurant, we do our best to promote our food with a conscience,” Lewis said. “We want to use that same conscience to guide us towards our decision to reopen.”

slendak@mojonews.com