Two Michelin-starred chef Sat Bains got the tape measure out and measured the restaurant dining room to see the impact of a two-metre social distancing rule between tables.
"It would be devastating. Can we viably run a business with restrictions on covers? It would probably be down to 40-50 percent," said the chef, whose Restaurant Sat Bains, in Lenton Lane, would normally serve 60 people in a day.
With a two-metre social distancing rule the number would drop to 30 at best, 24 at worst. The kitchen bench - where diners sit up close and personal watching the chefs in action - would be a no go.
"We have space in the garden but you can't guarantee the weather.
"I'm hoping the one-metre rule will be applied because that will help us a lot more," said Mr Bains, who has been pondering the dilemma with other Michelin-starred chefs around the world, in Australia, the Netherlands, San Francisco and New York as well as across the UK.
"It doesn't matter if it's a cafe, pub or hotel, this industry of hospitality has been decimated - there's a shared grieving.
"We are all in the same boat. How big is the priority of going back to restaurants when we come out of this? I hope there will be steady resurgence but we'll be a different industry by the time this is over," he predicted.
With restrictions eased on the number of people who can gather, six senior staff will be having their first meeting since lockdown - in Wollaton Park - to discuss the way forward in terms of seasonal produce and techniques ready for the time the restaurant can reopen.
But the chef doesn't want to try and predict when guests are likely to return.
"We don't know when we're going back. Everything is in the air - we have nothing down as a plan. Ultimately we're waiting on the government information. It's changing all the time.
"There is a lot of speculation and theorising - we are waiting for the news from our health and safety experts," said Mr Bains, who isn't rushing to splash out thousands of pounds on screens between tables if they're not necessary.
"It's a waiting game - but you've got to play the game so you don't miss the opportunity.
"The safety of guests and staff is paramount - we won't prematurely open the restaurant and put people at risk. We have got to make people feel confident in restaurants.
"People have gone through hell - they have lost people. It's a very sad time. We have got to be sensitive."
Barely a day goes by without someone tweeting the restaurant about a visit they've made - or yet to make.
"People are excited and that is exciting to hear. A lot are messaging saying they are looking forward to coming, said Mr Bains.
During lockdown the restaurant has been getting a facelift, both inside and out, and Mr Bains, his number two John Freeman and a couple of the other chefs have been busy pickling all the spring produce from the restaurant garden.
As well as keeping the restaurant 'healthy', Mr Bains has also been keeping himself fit by going for daily power walks around Wollaton Park wearing a 20kg to 30kg weighted vest.
"The plusses of this are a lot of people are keeping fit. I've been power walking and did 250km last month."
The year got off to a bad start for the restaurant when it was cut off by flooding in February and the A52 Clifton Bridge closure proved a major impediment before the coronavirus pandemic took its toll.
Despite this, the chef, who celebrated his 20th anniversary at the restaurant he runs with wife Amanda last October, said: "We've got to be positive. We are going to have to think more creatively and out of the box."
