Iron Whale in Asbury Park Reopening

ASBURY PARK — As of Wednesday, New Jersey restaurateur Tim McLoone is reopening all seven of his restaurants in New Jersey. And two of them are in Asbury Park.

Robinson Ale House (with locations in Red Bank and Asbury Park), Rum Runner in Sea Bright, CJ McLoone's in Tinton Falls, Iron Whale in Asbury Park, McLoone's Pier House in Long Branch and McLoone's Boathouse in West Orange will reopen for takeout and curbside pick-up only, as per state law. They will also sell mixed drinks to go.

But the going will not be easy from here.

"As it is right now, we won't make it to January, not if we can only reopen at 25 or 50 percent seating capacity," he told Patch Wednesday.

McLoone made the decision to close all his popular New Jersey eateries when the pandemic first took hold, because "takeout just wasn't our business model," he told Patch. "In our world, to-go business was less than two percent. We didn't have the proper containers or bags; we just weren't ready for that. We took the last month to figure it out as best we can."

McLoone applied for and was given Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) loans from the federal government. While he didn't want to say how much he got, he received seven loans, one for each restaurant.

"Some were very modest and some were fairly large," said McLoone. "They are loans, and if you hire everyone back it's forgiven. But we can't hire everyone back. And restaurants like ours can't possibly pay it back if we're not at full seating."

McLoone said he's hired back managers and limited cook staff to work in the kitchen. Being told he can reopen at 50 percent capacity, an idea floated by Murphy and others, "doesn't cut it. We won't make it to January."