From left, Amado chef and co-owner Cory Rohrbach, Franklin County Local Development Corporation board member Jim Ellis, Franklin County LDC CEO Jeremy Evans, Franklin County LDC Director of Economic Development Russ Kinyon, Tupper Lake village Mayor Paul Maroun and Amado co-owner Lilian Rohrbach talk in one of the three new greenhouse-style seating areas at Amado in Tupper Lake. (Provided photo — Franklin County LDC)

TUPPER LAKE — A restaurant here has a unique twist on outdoor dining.

Over the past few months, business owners have been forced to adapt to COVID-19 safety protocols. For instance, regulations requiring mandatory social distancing reduce restaurants to less than half of their normal operating capacity.

“Before COVID-19, internally we had room for 70 people,” Cory Rohrbach, who co-owns Amado in Tupper Lake with his wife Lilian, said in a press release. “Now we have room for 30 inside.”

The obvious solution was outdoor seating, but Rohrbach wanted to find a way to create a more intimate experience. He considered putting carports or tents outside, but he didn’t think those options reflected the “Amado experience.” And then Rohrbach saw plans online for a greenhouse, and a lightbulb turned on in his mind.

Now Amado has three greenhouse-style dining rooms and a large new outdoor dining area. Each 120-square-foot greenhouse contains a table with seating for eight guests, music on demand, temperature control and a three-stage air filter with a ultraviolet light. They’re like little houses.

Thanks to the greenhouses and the outside dining, Rohrbach can now seat more than 90 people — 30 inside the main building and 62 outside — while adhering to state guidelines.

“Necessity is the mother of invention, and that’s what this is,” Rohrbach said. “This has saved our summer. In July, we were only down 10% over last summer. I can live with that.”

Besides keeping Amado running this summer, the new facilities are a unique addition that Rohrbach is proud of. There is nothing else like them in the area or anywhere else, according to Tupper Lake village Mayor Paul Maroun.

“I call them cabanas,” Maroun said. “I have traveled all over the world and I’ve never seen anything quite like these. I think it’s neat to have them in Tupper Lake.”

The project was made possible by a $25,000 Small Business Relief Fund loan through the Franklin County Local Development Corporation, which handles business and community development as well as destination marketing for Franklin County.

Since March, there have been five loans under the loan program: one in Saranac Lake, one in Tupper Lake and three in Malone. Those five loans were expedited in response to the pandemic.

“This is what the IDA (the Franklin County Industrial Development Agency, associated with the LDC) should be doing, because part of the industry in Franklin County is tourism, and tourists have to eat,” Maroun said. “The money that was lent to these folks is what we should be doing in Saranac Lake, in Malone, in Chateaugay, in Tupper Lake, to promote people spending money in this county.”

Rohrbach said the low-interest loan made it easier to make the outdoor dining rooms become a reality; Maroun said the innovative idea has inspired another one: a set of docks near Little Logger Park and a trail that leads visitors from Raquette Pond, past Amado and on to downtown, where entertainment, shopping and dining await. Those additions will be made using money from the State Local Waterfront Revitalization Program funding grant, which was also used to create Little Loggers Park, enhance the lakeside walkway and upgrade the baseball stadium.

Echoing Maroun’s comment, LDC CEO Jeremy Evans said the marriage of community development and destination marketing is essential to creating a sustainable economy, and that his organization strives to support the efforts of community leaders and business owners.

“This is something that we’re putting our heart and soul into,” Evans said. “We have to continually be looking at ways to increase the number of attractions, or increase the quality of attractions, in the county so visitors keep having a great experience. Our communities are places people want to be, and there’s an authenticity that keeps people coming back.”