DENVER — There's going to be a lot less plates at the dinner table this Thanksgiving.
Muthana Alyasiri and his family were going to break bread with friends and family for the holiday, but as the number of coronavirus cases explodes, they realized a face-to-face dinner just wasn't on the menu.
"I don’t know if we do FaceTime or some video calls for friends it with be our friends or family," said Alyasiri.
On Thursday, Governor Jared Polis told Coloradans the idea of traditionally large Thanksgiving gatherings should be thrown out like the untouched cranberries.
"I think many families, like ours, should plan to have Thanksgiving with those who live in their household and incorporate grandparents, family, friends via Zoom or simply plan on having a Thanksgiving in February or March when people are inoculated," said Polis.
Laura Zaspel owns Serendipty Catering. Her company is seeing a 65% increase in orders, but not revenue, from this time last year for Thanksgiving.
"There’s more volume of orders but each order is smaller," Zaspel said.
Zaspel says 2019's average Turkey Day order was for 40 people, but this year it’s between four and 12.
"It tells us that people are following along. Keeping things more intimate, keeping gatherings to a more lower number, honoring the concept of public health and safety," Zaspel tells Denver7.
Half of those small orders are ditching the turkey and are going vegan. In years past, the vegan option only accounted for 5% of orders.
"People see that connection of eating plants and being vegan with immune strength and health," Zaspel believes
On the plus side, this year we can start off the meal in our sweatpants.
