How Rochester Restaurant Waffles R Wild is recovering from COVID-19:

Over the last seven months the Coronavirus pandemic has greatly effected many small businesses and restaurants across the United States. Many business owners have had to lay off employees, shut down during quarantine, and cut down to half capacity when reopening.

According to the National Chamber of Commerce, a survey they tested found that 70% of small and local businesses are worried about financial issues because of extended duration of the shut down and 58% are worried that they may have to close permanently.

In the town of Gates, New York local restaurant Waffles R Wild has struggled immensly due to the restrictions mandated by New York state during the pandemic. Waffles R Wild is a restaurant and bar that have only been open since January 20, 2020.

“I am only 23 years old and have been waiting for years to finally open my own restaurant and then unfortunately as soon as I did, two months later COVID-19 happens. It was very stressful in the beginning because my employees and I were so afraid of the unknown. I also felt kind of defeated at first because I put so much time and effort into creating my restaurant and then it was completely taken away and I didn’t know when it was going to come back and re open. We didn’t know if we were going to have to close down for good or if we could only do take out orders. It was an extremely anxious time in March of 2020” said Danielle.

Many restaurants and small businesses like Danielle’s were all terrified of the unknown because there was no definitive answer as to how long they would be shut down for.

“All of my employees were all on unemployment except for some of the kitchen staff and myself because we were able to do take-out orders for most of the quarantine. But we are only now only able to allow half capacity in the restaurant, so half of my staff is still currently on unemployment” said Danielle.

“Now in September the business is doing much better because we have been using our food truck that we used to use before the restaurant opened up to support ourselves during this time. Throughout the spring and summer we would go to farmers markers and outdoor events where we could take the truck and utilize it like we used it. The food truck was real life saver over the past couple months and benefited our business greatly” said Danielle.

The Waffles R Wild food truck was a significant factor in helping keep thier buisness alive during the prolonged closure for resturants. This allowed their business to continue to make profit while the restaurant was not able to seat its full capacity. Waffles R Wild also does not have any outdoor seating therefore, the food truck was an extrodinary help.

There have been numerous hardships that small buisness owners and thier employees had to face during the pandemic. The future for small businesses is still unknown because we have no idea where COVID-19 will bring us in the future. Although, Danielle and many other small business owners creative approaches to support their businesses during the pandemic is helping them get through this difficult time.