Stormy weather may have eased temporarily in Sacramento, but roads around the state capital remain blocked, another headache for businesses like Magpie Cafe.
Janelle Inouye, co-owner of the restaurant, said the power went out for several days starting on New Year’s Eve, a big day for the hospitality industry.
“It’s a very low-margin business,” Inouye said. “Not being able to finish this year strong and start the next year as envisioned is quite a blow. We are still trying to make room for our friends and neighbors. .”
Inouye added that casualties were in the thousands. They had planned to take advantage of the New Year’s Day weekend. This was supposed to help recoup some of the lost revenue, but it didn’t.
“We wanted to host a New Year’s brunch, but we canceled it in 2020 when everything was closed,” she said. , I said yes, let’s try.
Not only did they lose sales, but they also had to throw away perishable food. Cheyenne Lo, a waitress at Ramen 101 a few doors down, said she had been working at the restaurant for a year and was feeling the pain of the weather due to the power outage.
“At least the meat was preserved,” Low said. “We had to throw everything else away, so we know we lost money.”
Businesses in the city can no longer access the foot traffic that once existed as many office workers work remotely, said Inouye and Lo. According to Cheyenne, constant rain and high winds are further impacting the lack of foot traffic.
“Managers often say, ‘If the business doesn’t recover quickly, we’re out of business,’” says Lo. “We already know that the rain has caused some losses, but we hope to recover again.”
As for Inoue, he said he was optimistic, but it wasn’t easy. “I’d say I’m optimistic, but you know, things don’t feel as optimistic as our hearts would like.
With more storms coming, Inoue added that he’s doing everything he can to keep his chin up and open.
