MCCALL, Idaho — With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urging everyone to practice social distancing for the foreseeable future by avoiding crowds of less than 10 people, those in the service industry have really started to feel the pinch.
Restaurants across the country have either drastically reduced their staff and hours, have gone to only take-out or delivery, or have voluntarily shut their doors altogether.
For restaurant owners like Steve Topple, it meant shutting the doors on two of his three restaurants in the McCall/Donnelly area.
"I've been in the restaurant industry for about 25 years and I've never seen anything as bad as this," Topple said.
It was just last Tuesday that he started to notice a change.
"We probably had like 25 reservations a night and then we dropped down to almost like two to six people a night, which is massive," Topple said. "Normally, we would do 50 to 60 couples a night with walk-in business as well, but there's no walk-in business right now. Everybody is just staying at home, trying to stay safe, which I think is a smart thing."
So he closed 'Regazza Di Bufalo' in Donnelly and 'Jasmine and Ginger' in McCall, sending home 40 of his 50 employees.
"After 9/11, it was definitely very scary, but right now, it's hard," Topple said. "I don't know how I'm going to make ends meat. As a business owner, I barely even have enough money to make payroll for the last two weeks and my food suppliers they need the money and I just don't have the money to pay them right now."
'The Blue Moose' in McCall is still open, but only for drive-thru business.
Topple says following the CDC's guidelines is a no-brainer, but making the decision to keep his employees home was difficult.
"I definitely got emotional thinking about it because they're basically my family, all of these employees," Topple said. "It's really tough. It definitely hurts for sure. They're your family and you want to look after them and how are they going to survive?"
Right now, Topple says he's anticipating being closed for a month.
"It's a tight community and we're all going to help each other out and we'll all get through this."
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