KALAMAZOO, MI — The usual motto at One Well Brewing is “high fives over handshakes." Customers and staff slap hands in the air to greet each other at the favorite Milwood brewery, in its fifth year of business.

The meeting spot is often crowded with people lining up to get pints of unique brews that cover a variety of styles, from sours to stouts and blondes to barrel-aged ales. Children play in a family-friendly area of the brewery, and sounds of conversation and pinball machines fill the air.

But now, with the threat of coranovirus forcing a statewide ban of dine-in service at restaurants, things look a little different.

Employees, a much smaller group than usual, are still dispensing food and beer with a smile. But instead of high fives, they are exchanging verbal pleasantries only, while wearing gloves and carrying food out to customers’ cars.

One Well Brewing Owner Chris O’Neill said he started talking with his management team about the virus being reported in the news on Monday, March 9, and how it could impact the business. A week later, the governor instituted a ban closing One Well’s usually crowded dining room, and shutting down onsite dining at most other restaurants across Michigan.

As the government made rounds of announcements leading up to the ban, One Well and other businesses had to adapt on the fly. The business first voluntarily changed its capacity to 150 people. Soon after — as O’Neill wondered whether he would be forced to choose to close the restaurant amid government advisories against large gatherings — the governor issued the executive order closing dining rooms across the state.

O’Neill said he spoke with employees and told them he is feeling the same uncertainties they are, and reached out to each employee by phone.

“I said, look man, I know you’re scared, anxious, all these things. You know why? Because I’m feeling the same way," he said.

Hourly employees were advised to file for unemployment benefits, he said. O’Neill is providing limited hours for some of them to work carryout service — one element of his business that remains operational.

But with the dining room closed, he said, the amount of total hours needed has dropped off for the company, which employed about 50 people.

The company cannot pay all the hourly employees now that overall hours are reduced to almost nothing, and they have been laid off. The salaried management team is continuing to work, O’Neill said.

If employees receive unemployment benefits, that money will be a fraction of their usual pay, O’Neill said.

Soon after the dine-in ban began, O’Neill blasted a message to fans of the brewery, and pledged to match the first $10,000 in donations to support the staff that had to be laid off. A Gofundme page that went live March 17 attracted more than $5,750 in about one day.

In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, One Well continues to offer to-go beer, cider, and a limited food menu.

Customers can place orders at onewellbrewing.com/food-to-go. Customers are asked to stay in your car and wait for staff to bring the order out. The menu may change on a daily basis, the company said.

O’Neill said a lot of positive things have happened at his company in the past five years, and he is confident they will make it out the other side of the coranavirus issue, with hopes of throwing a big party to welcome people back to the neighborhood gathering place.

He said employees and regular customers are used to seeing each others’ smiling faces, and that creates a positive atmosphere at the brewery.

“Now it’s all COVID-19 this and that,” O’Neill said. “That doesn’t make you feel good. The good thing is we’re all going through the same thing.”

He is also working on another idea to auction off some tie-dyed apparel to support the fundraising effort.

The uncertainty, such as about how long the impacts will last, is on his mind, O’Neill said, and he thinks about the product loss and other adjustments the business may have to make as the impacts continue.

“There isn’t a magical date everybody knows when we’re going to open,” O’Neill said.

Restaurants, breweries and other businesses across Michigan are facing similar challenges.

Here’s a look at some other local places that have modified operations to stay in business during the coronavirus outbreak:

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