Southern Cross Clubs are used to feeding hundreds of people a night.
While the first stage of easing social distancing restrictions will only allow them to serve a fraction of that number, the decision to open some to dine-in customers was an easy one.
They're among the venues that had to weigh up the decision of whether to reopen or not, after Chief Minister Andrew Barr on Tuesday announced venues would be allowed to accept 10 patrons at a time.
The Woden, Tuggeranong and Jamison clubs will reopen for lunch and dinner from Saturday.
CEO Ian Mackay said they had already made hundreds of bookings for the next week after sending out a message to members on Tuesday, letting them know they will be open.
"People that work in hospitality do want to be serving customers," he said.
"While 10 people a session doesn't get many people back to work, it gets a few and keeps that connection with our members."
The clubs will hold seven sittings of 90 minutes per day, starting at 11am.
Each sitting will have 10 dine-in guests with cleaning to occur in between.
Mr Mackay said the restrictions may make it difficult to turn a profit, but the clubs started planning to reopen as soon as they received the national cabinet advice.
He said it was a relatively easy decision as the clubs had large open spaces and had already been operating takeaway and home delivery.
"We are excited to be able to get back to doing what we love doing: opening our doors to our community and our members," he said.
"As we move through the stages [of reopening] all hospitality businesses are going to need to do things very differently.
"This allows us to build up our skill base as we get back to a more normal operations."
Clubs ACT CEO Gwyn Rees said clubs could reopen safely with greater patron numbers.
"What we are seeing at the Southern Cross is a demonstration of what reopening clubs with greater patron numbers can look like," he said.
"Unfortunately at the current numbers, for the vast majority of clubs there is no way a ten person model is viable," he said.
"We aren't easing restrictions if the vast majority of clubs remain shutdown and it is critical we get people back into their jobs soon."
Cafes are also pondering whether to open their doors to a weekend brunch trade.
Ona will be opening its city cafe, The Cupping Room, from Saturday, while its other stores remain takeaway only.
Marketing manager Jordan Montgomery said the cafe would allow 10 people to dine at time, and maintain a wait list at the door.
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He said there was sufficient room outside the civic cafe to manage a queue.
"We have a few different venues - each is different sizes, different demographics and has different needs," he said.
"Opening is not viable yet for all of them - both in terms of health and safety and financially."
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