VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Restaurants in Central Florida were allowed on Monday to open their indoor and outdoor seating to customers for the first time in more than a month. But some local restaurants say they’re going to stick to takeout and outdoor services only for the time being.
Omar Brown, owner of the Kale Café in Daytona Beach, prepped the outdoor tables ready to seat customers on Monday when they were allowed to per the state’s orders as long as parties were sat 6 feet apart.
He said so far during the pandemic, his sales have dropped by 50 percent and he’s had to furlough three of his six employees.
READ: Reopening Florida: What is reopening today?
But while they’re able to open up their indoor seating at 25% capacity, Brown said they’re choosing to keep that part of their business shut for now.
“We are basically going to keep it this way for some time now maybe a week, two, maybe a month. We are not sure,” he said. “Yes, it hurts our pockets, but safety of our employees and our customers trumps everything else.”
The owner of Zappi's Italian Garden is still deciding when the restaurant may reopen.
“This announcement that happened Thursday that gave us four days’ notice to open back up again, I wasn’t comfortable with that,” owner Paul Zappitelli said. “It caught me off guard and I don’t feel that we are ready to open for a couple more weeks.”
Both owners said they will see how things go and do what they feel is best for their staff and customers.
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