30 day moratorium --- SCDHEC continues no tableside service at your favorite restaurant

What can you do to help make sure your favorite restaurant, Chef, bartender and tipped server are still there for you this summer?     

Buy yourself or a loved one a present

Purchase a gift card from your favorite eatery to use for yourself or someone soon to celebrate a special occasion.

Order dinner out

Instead of cooking all your meals at home, order a fine dining restaurant quality meal for curbside pick up.

Buy a bottle or glass of wine

Along with the dinner meal, buy a single glass or a whole bottle of premium wine (perfectly legal) and don’t forget to add a service charge as a tip for your favorite server.  

Buy a seat for a prepaid event

Check Facebook, Google Business and restaurant websites for prepaid events and secure a seat now for yourself or a special someone.

In the meantime, to all of our loyal guests, thank you.   We will joyfully continue serving our entire menu of eclectic, healthy, creative foods via curbside pick up for as long as it takes.  

Eat Smart, Feel Good!

Chef Angela

Beyond the Bull Tableside

864 508 1254

www.facebook.com/beyondthebull

Note:  Beyond the Bull Tableside will be celebrating a 5^th  anniversary at the current location in Seneca on Friday, April 24.  We fully intend to be around for number 6.  

15 day moratorium --- no tableside service at your favorite restaurant

Almost 1 week has gone by since our Governor’s executive order to cease all restaurant and bar service (indoor and outdoor) with the exception of take-out, drive through, delivery and curbside.  So, how are we doing so far?

Drive throughs are jammed, food truck windows are packed, grocery stores are barren as more people dine at home, and cars line up curbside.  But how does all this help the small, independent fine dining local restaurant or, the one where you love to dine with friends and on special family occasions because the food is unique, wines are premium and the server has fervor?  Unfortunately--- out in the cold!   

What can you do to help make sure your favorite restaurant, Chef, bartender and tipped server are still there for you?  Here are four ways to help:

Buy yourself or a loved one a present

Purchase a gift card from your favorite eatery to use for yourself or someone soon to celebrate a special occasion.

Order dinner out

Instead of cooking all your meals at home, order a fine dining restaurant quality meal for curbside pick up.

Buy a bottle of wine

Along with the dinner meal, buy a bottle of premium wine (perfectly legal) and don’t forget to add a service charge as a tip for your favorite server.

Buy a seat for a prepaid event

Check Facebook, Google Business and restaurant websites for prepaid events and secure a seat now for yourself or a special someone.

In the meantime, to all of our loyal guests, thank you. 

Eat Smart, Feel Good!

Chef Angela
Beyond the Bull Tableside
864 508 1254
www.facebook.com/beyondthebull

Note:  Beyond the Bull Tableside will be celebrating a 5^th  anniversary at the current location in Seneca on Friday, April 24.  We sincerely hope we will be around for number 6.  

Tax Relief For Restaurants?

COVID 19 Tax Relief For Restaurants ?  Not so --- ­

In a 4 PM press conference on Tuesday, March 17, Governor McMaster announced a plan to help curb the spread of COVID 19 in South Carolina which included the involuntary closure of all restaurants.  In the same press conference, he also required the South Carolina Department of Revenue to extend tax deadlines until June 1^st---  “That is to file and to pay all state taxes, including income taxes, business taxes, sales taxes for small, as well as large businesses”.  Governor McMaster said and further explained the intent, “The idea behind the extension is to allow businesses to maintain their cash flow during the crisis and pay their employees”.  My interpretation offered me the opportunity to continue to use the cash on hand to pay expenses that are critical to continuing operation after the two week moratorium, expenses such as liability insurance and equipment repair. 

Today, on Thursday, March 19, two days AFTER the Governors announcement, I received an email with a special announcement from SCDOR regarding the COVID 19 Tax Relief.  One day before the monthly sales tax is due and two days after the Governor’s announcement, the special announcement from SCDOR stated the following, “This tax relief does not affect returns and tax payments that are due in March. These deadlines still apply.”

Seriously?   March?  As in March, 2020?  During the two weeks that we are complying with closure?  Either the SCDOR has gone rogue, totally ignoring the “requirement” not “request” (also in the words of the Governor) to extend ALL tax deadlines to June 1, or one of these parties has made a mistake.  How does extending deadlines for April and May help restaurants with cash flow NOW.  It is NOW and for the next two weeks that there will be no revenue.  Surely this was not the intent. 

As an independent small restaurant owner who is forced to comply with an order to close, I did so without malice or hesitation knowing how critical the situation is and praying for success.    And it was with relief that I heard the Governor’s requirement regarding tax filing and payment --- a message of a tax extension that would help us all carry on.  Specializing in “clean” food, alternative proteins, tableside service and fine wine, it is highly unlikely that our restaurant will have any revenue from take-out.  So now, because SCDOR is choosing to ignore the Governor’s “requirement” to extend the deadline on ALL taxes due, or the Governor forgot to say all taxes due AFTER April 1, I have a difficult choice to be made  --- file and pay sales tax due to SCDOR tomorrow or pay my loyal and irreplaceable employees tomorrow.  Hmmm, what would you do?

Eat Smart, Feel Good!

Chef Angela

Note:

According to the National Restaurant Association, there are approximately 10,000 restaurants and 200,000 restaurant employees in South Carolina.  Those restaurants contribute sales tax on approximately 10 billion dollars in yearly sales.  Tomorrow, many of the 10,000 restaurants will be required to file and pay sales tax. 

Germaphobic Chef --- Not Just Clean Food!

Not just clean food                                          

Beyond the Bull’s (BTB) mission is to serve clean food which we define as food prepared from clean ingredients, unprocessed and free of additives, added sugar, flour, and using methods that avoid the use of bad fats --- as close to what Mother Nature intended as we can get.  We do our best to provide our guests with creative, interesting menu choices in a fine dining environment offering fine wines and fine service.   

But to me, it is about more than just clean food.   As the chef/owner of BTB, a certified and registered ServSafe Food instructor and proctor, a senior citizen (a member of an at-risk population) and a little germaphobic (aka OCD), I am fervent  about providing a clean, safe, comfortable dining environment as well.  How do we do that?

Limited staff

BTB has one chef in the kitchen and one server in the dining room, the same chef and server every night.   Both are well trained in procedures that ensure food, food contact surfaces and guest contact surfaces are free of contaminants (including mold, bacteria, toxins and viruses). Except for special occasions, Chef Angela and Erin do it all.     

Limited seating

BTB provides an intimate, semi private dining experience.  We limit reservations to 24 each night we are open.  With limited seating in a restaurant that has a seating capacity of 64 spread throughout three dining rooms, our guests are guaranteed an un-crowded space, plenty of elbow room and private conversations. 

Extended sanitation and food safety procedures        

BTB extends the same standards of sanitation out to the dining rooms (including rest rooms), tables, chairs, door knobs, glassware, flatware, check holders, pens and all hard surfaces are regularly wiped with the same sanitizing solution specified by food code regulations for use on food contact surfaces in the kitchen.  Dress uniform, personal hygiene and hand-washing requirements are extended to the dining room as well. 

Clean air

At BTB we take your comfort and well being seriously.  So, in addition to practicing the FDA and SCDHEC standards of practice for food safety in the kitchen and dining rooms, we maintain our air handling system with the same vigilance, including the regular use of antimicrobial air cleaners.   

Some might say this is over the top.  We don’t think so.  Common cold, seasonal flu, new and old viruses, they are here to stay.  Is all this due to the current pandemic?  No. It is what we do, have always done and will continue to do to provide our guests with a safe, clean, comfortable experience.  Besides, I am much too old for cognitive behavioral psychotherapy.  If I must have a behavioral disorder, I can’t think of a better one to have in my line of work.   

Eat Smart, Feel Good!

Chef Angela