TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Opened in 1905, the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City has survived both World Wars, Prohibition and the Depression.
“We’re going to be OK as a company, we’re going to be OK as a country,” Andrea Gonzmart told 8 On Your Side via FaceTime Friday evening.
Shortly after the executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis to only allow takeout and delivery from Florida restaurants in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Columbia Restaurant Group decided to close all of its restaurants temporarily.
“We have to do this to try to contain this, so that way Florida and the restaurant industry can come back,” said Gonzmart, a fifth-generation member of the family that owns Columbia Restaurant.
Earlier in the day in Ybor, 8 On Your Side met an airline worker already having a hard time finding a meal.
“This is the first restaurant that said yeah, we can serve you just have to wait outside,” Roxanne Lambie said waiting for a pizza from Gaspar’s Grotto.
Lambie is still working and traveling across the country for her job. She said she is worried about what might happen next.
“How much longer until we can’t do to-go orders?” she said.
Some restaurants in the normally busy Ybor City had gone dark by Friday night.
“It’s not even worth opening for the to-go,” General Manager of Acropolis Ybor Lucien Chalfoun said.
After serving fewer customers all week, Chalfoun told 8 On Your Side he worries most about what shutting down means for his employees.
“They live paycheck to paycheck,” he said, “it’s gonna be a disaster for them.”
While it may be a disaster for the restaurant industry right now, Gonzmart said other restaurants should consider suspending all operations to protect customers and employees from the virus.
“They are not just my employees,” she said. “They are my family. We made tough decisions today so that we can ensure they can come back, that they will come back.”
All of the Columbia Restaurant Group employees have been furloughed, Gonzmart said.
“It’s scary, but it was necessary,” she said.
As part of his executive order, Gov. DeSantis has temporarily lifted the alcohol delivery ban to allow restaurants to do so under certain conditions.
Restaurants can deliver alcohol as long as it is in a sealed container or is accompanied by the sale of food within the same order.
Gov. DeSantis had previously ordered every restaurant to limit its occupancy to 50% and abide by the CDC’s social distancing guidelines as well as restrict bars, pubs, and nightclubs from selling alcohol.
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