Restaurants deal with shutdowns amidst pandemic.
by Joshua Nawoichik
It’s finally at that time of day where you can sit down at the table with your family and enjoy a nice dinner. Your parent come into the room and say, ‘we should order out tonight’. You may be left wondering, if that’s even a possibility during the current conditions surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic. Many restaurants locally owned and worldwide have been forced to shut down due to the current social distancing shutdowns, and my family’s restaurant is included within that long list. Nevertheless, some establishments are now relying on curbside pick-up and delivery to try to get by during these tough times; others have decided to use this time to renovate and remodel their restaurants and revamp their look for the impending ‘reopening’ of the country. Hopefully that reopening is closer than we think.
One of the restaurant’s that are still surviving during the pandemic is Kool Kone on Marion Road located in Wareham. Thomas Strom, the restaurant’s owner continues to be overwhelmed with business being that it is one of the few places open locally. Under normal circumstances they offer a variety of meals for every food enthusiast and new specials are on their menu each week. Though due to the pandemic, what menu items are offered may be limited at this time or simply unavailable. Still, Kool Kone stands on one of the best options to treat the family to a tasty bite to eat amidst all that his happening in our lives.
“We are doing exceptionally well during the Coronavirus shutdown,” said Strom. “Prior to all of this, 80% of our business already came from takeout so we are thankful to not be hit as hard as some of the other restaurants.”
Strom has run this establishment for 16 years now and has done so successfully. He is hopeful that business for him will stay as usual and that he will continue to profit during these tough times.
Other restaurants aren’t so lucky and have been affected on heavier level by this pandemic. Still though, they are finding ways to utilize this time in other ways. One of these affected includes my family’s own business, Narrows Crossing Restaurant & Lounge which has had to completely shut their doors for the time being. While shutdown, official owner Robert Nawoichik made the decision to have some work done on the exterior and interior of the establishment.
“We are doing the best we can right now with what we have,” said Nawoichik. “It’s hard for everyone but instead of looking at this in a bad way I decided to take advantage of the down time.”
A lot of people seem to be looking at this pandemic as a huge issue, but others are looking past that to seek improvement around them. The Narrows Crossing is one of many businesses taking advantage of this time off to clean up their property.
Nawoichik said, “There’s a bunch of stuff to keep me occupied, basically everywhere I look gives me something to do.”
Once Coronavirus has come and gone, there will most definitely be times of uncertainty due to job, as well as money losses, essentially worldwide. But as we have seen many times before in history after facing long periods of adversities, eventually the world will find its way, and things will slowly guide themselves back on track. In time, everyone, restaurant owners and other people alike can find their new normal again.
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