BOULDER, Colo. — A Boulder café will soon require proof of vaccination to dine inside. The owner of Cafe Aion located across the street from CU Boulder on 'the Hill' said he decided to implement the policy to keep his customers and patrons safe.
"If people who want to come in who aren't vaccinated and want to dine outside or get take out, that's great," owner Dakota Soifer said via Zoom. "We know that dining in restaurants is a high risk activity and we're just taking some steps to try and mitigate that as best as we can."
Soifer was approached with the idea from former Boulder restaurant week owner Kate Lacroix, an active member that still works in the restaurant industry.
"I am always at the center of trying to help my community I take it very seriously," Lacroix said at Cafe Aion on Sunday. "I believe we're in a toxic relationship with people who are unvaccinated and I think the conversation needs to shift away from, 'Please get you vaccination' towards 'What are we going to do about it?'"
While Soifer's café might be the first to implement this policy, they hope it's not the last. The pair are encouraging other restaurants to follow suit to try and keep the community safe.
"If we can do this maybe a few other restaurants can buy into it and hopefully we can avoid a full shutdown and more loss of businesses," Soifer said.
Soifer told 9News the policy would go into effect in the next week or two. If a person does not want to show their proof of vaccination, they can dine outside or take their meal to-go.
Lacroix and Soifer are hoping to get local government support on this matter.
We did reach out to the Boulder Mayor's Office and have yet to hear back.
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