Welcome to business in the age of coronavirus. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn people to stay home and maintain social distancing, businesses have begun making changes to limit their customers' exposure to the public. These innovative hands-off approaches may help keep businesses afloat while the health risk lasts.

One of the most noticeable changes has been implemented by restaurants. On Mar. 25, Gov. Brad Little issued an emergency stay-home order to all of Idaho. Restaurants can now only do take-out or delivery orders.

Restaurants generally operate on a profit margin of between 3 to 5 percent, according to research gathered by Toast, a restaurant point-of-sale management system. These razor-thin margins mean most restaurants cannot afford to close altogether.

Local eateries have been coming up with makeshift solutions. Many restaurants, such as Great Harvest Bread Co., began closing their dining rooms and lobbies weeks before the order.

With the order in place, all restaurants have now shifted entirely to delivery, take-out and curbside pickup, even if they hadn’t offered those services before the pandemic.

“I know people are scared right now, but we’re going to try to stay open as long as we can,” said Tom Hersh, owner of Dixie’s Diner.

Dixie’s Diner has doubled its takeout orders and started delivering meals for the first time. Yet the restaurant's sales are still down 50 percent.

“I’m not even sure we’re making a profit anymore, but I feel like it’s almost a service to stay open,” Hersh said. “If we get to the point where we’re wasting food, I’m going to start donating it.”

During this time, places already known for their delivery have seen a big spike in demand for their service as well. Domino's plans to hire 10,000 delivery drivers, and Amazon said it will need to hire 100,000 more workers in order to keep up with demands.

Local Domino's pizza stores in Idaho Falls have all set up "contactless delivery." With this system, the delivery driver will place the food on a stool in front of the door, stand 10 feet back and wait for the customer to pick up the pizza.

“I was kind of anticipating not that many people would do (contactless delivery), but we've been getting more and more,” said a Domino's manager.

Luckily, delivery is safe, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They have found that there is “no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with food.”

It’s not just restaurants that have gotten creative with their services. Grease Monkey, an automotive shop, has been offering free pickup and drop-off of vehicles needing service. Normally, pickup service would be $20, but they have decided to wave that fee at this time. The shop has also begun disinfecting all vehicles before returning them to their owners.

“There’s a lot of people with compromised immune systems who are a little higher risk, or people with small children who don’t want their children to sit in a waiting room with all these customers. We want to keep our customers safe,” said Chris Dougan, manager of Grease Monkey.

With more people testing positive for the virus every day, it seems businesses are doing what they can to protect the community.

“We just want to keep our customers safe,” Dougan said.