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'Frank's Restaurant' excited to reopen, unsure if business will be profitable

3 years 10 months 2 weeks ago Tuesday, May 12 2020 May 12, 2020 May 12, 2020 5:35 PM May 12, 2020 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE – It's been a long two months for staff at Frank's Restaurant where the parking lot has looked like a ghost town. But on Tuesday, food was finally being prepped inside the kitchen.

"Frank's is back!,” manager Ross Dedman said. “Well, we never left, we just had to put it at a pause."

The restaurant has been empty since mid-March. Business wasn't great for the allowed to-go orders, and members of the Dedman family that run the restaurant's two locations have underlying health conditions.

“The revenue wasn't where it needed to be, so we just decided that we would close temporarily,” Dedman said.

The temporary part, though, has now come to an end. Managers put up a welcoming sign for customers: they are 'now open.'

“It's hard [customers] become part of your family. You see them five, seven days a week and they're sending you messages asking when you're opening back up, so we're excited to open,” manager Brent Guerin said.

After the Governor announced that the stay-at-home order will expire on Friday allowing restaurants to open up their dining rooms at 25 percent capacity, the Dedman family knew it was time to dust off their menus. 

Starting on Wednesday, to-go orders will be returning with some patio seating, and on Friday indoor seating will resume.

“We've got someone who is going to host and seat to make sure we're keeping our social distancing,” Guerin said.

On most of the tables, there are signs that say, ‘this table not available' to abide by the guidelines. There's still the question as to how profitable partially opening up will be.

“We're not sure of that as of right now, only time will tell,” Dedman said.
“Ultimately, I think we're going to get a lot of to-go orders and the 25 percent, so the two combined will be good for us."

The two say some businesses is better than none.

“Yes we would like to be at 100 percent, but at the same time, it's just what we have to do,” Guerin said.

All of the former staff at Frank’s Restaurant will be returning. The owner was able to continue paying them while the doors were closed with the help of federal aid.

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