Food Pickup Only At Lakeland Restaurant During Florida's Phase 1

LAKELAND, FL —Even though they're prohibited from being inside the restaurant, you could hear crickets in the dining area of Jimbo's Pit Bar-B-Q on March 21. The owner, Traci Hughes, looked out to her empty dining area that seats 95 customers. Paper towel holders and salt shakers that are refilled throughout the day sat on the tables untouched. The entrance door that usually opened multiple times by regulars, construction workers on their lunch break, tourists and the elderly couple who likes to argue over the last bite of apple pie stayed shut.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a day earlier through an executive order that all Florida restaurants suspend indoor dining and may only provide takeout or delivery in an effort to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

How long would this last? One week, a month, six months? Would business survive? This establishment opened in 1964 by Hughes' late father, Harold Lehman. She purchased it from him in 2001.

"I couldn't sleep at night," Hughes told Patch. "I was scared to death because this is the time of year that most restaurants in Lakeland make up for slower parts of the year. We lost all of our catering since big events were canceled."

Baseball spring training brings a lot of tourists to Lakeland and to its restaurant industry, but was yet another canceled event due to the pandemic.

With no end to the shutdown in sight, Hughes worried more about her employees than the business. "I'm lucky in the fact that I went through the whole recession back in 2008, and have since then saved because I don't want to ever go through anything like that again."

As for staff cuts, she cut servers, and several of her employees took a leave of absence because of their worries of coronavirus exposure. Or they just quit. Parents with teenagers employed there didn't allow them to work for the same fears.

"I had an older lady that works for me who is going through cancer and she's on chemo, so I lost her," said Hughes. "I lost a good number of staff, which I was worried about them."

Don't miss updates about precautions in Florida as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

The kitchen staff and her family members who work with her could take care of getting the food to the customers through their drive-thru service. However, hardly any customers went through the drive-thru or ordered pickup food in the first couple weeks. Money people would normally spend on dining out was either not in their bank account due to job loss caused by the pandemic or they needed to hang on to every penny they had to afford everyday living expenses. Hughes and the staff missed seeing their customers, especially inside as they adjusted to the new, slow routine.

Business started picking up when stimulus checks were issued. The drive-thru went from barely any cars to a steady pace of orders. Hughes is grateful for the community support but also overwhelmed as a smaller than usual staff works extra hard to serve their customers. Her teenage employees said they will be back to work, they just don't know when.

Governor DeSantis allows 25 percent capacity inside restaurants starting May 4. Local business owners expressed to Patch in a recent survey they are eager to reopen.

"I'm not going to open up with a 25 percent," she said. "My seating is like 96 so it would be less than 25 people I could have in here. I would have to get a server and a cashier, and I'm afraid I would have a line out the door. I'm going to wait until they go to 50 percent."

More tables and chairs will arrive soon for outdoor seating. She expects to seat around 25 customers outside. Jimbo's needs more employees. They are now hiring for kitchen staff.

As of Monday, May 4, the Florida Department of Health reports that 36,078 Florida residents have tested positive for coronavirus, and 529 of those tested positive are in Polk County. Twenty-six residents in the county have died of coronavirus, and a total of 1,379 deaths from the pandemic have occurred around the state.

During the interview with Patch, Hughes cried tears of gratitude as she expressed thanks to the community during these times. "I am so thankful for the community's support. Really, they've been unbelievable and it makes me cry thinking about it."