Catrinas Mex: Donating All Saturday Sales To Staff

JOLIET, IL — Some restaurants are geared for indoor dining, and downtown Joliet's Catrinas Mex is one of them. After the first coronavirus pandemic shutdown for Illinois restaurants and bars from March through June, Catrinas Mex enjoyed a summer resurgence. Lots of people began dining here, and many enjoyed their margarita Yard Cups and the outdoor patio.

Fast forward to October. Will County's coronavirus statistics were skyrocketing, and Gov. JB Pritzker decided to halt all indoor dining and bar gatherings once again. The governor's mandate remains in effect heading into the middle of December.

Come Saturday, Catrinas Mex is hosting a major event that aims to help its employees. The authentic Mexican cuisine restaurant in downtown Joliet at the former Keg site is donating all of its revenue back to its employees.

Catrinas Mex has been promoting the event for several days on social media, and many people have already stepped up in the Joliet area to place their takeout orders, days in advance. One of the carryout orders for Saturday came from as far away as Coal City, Catrinas Mex told Patch.

"A lot of people have pre-ordered already," remarked the owner's son, Jose Ortiz, who helps run the business along with his mother.

A total of seven employees will be given all the profits from Saturday's giveback, Ortiz told Patch. On Saturday, Catrinas Mex plans to stay open from 11 a.m. until at least 8 p.m.

A realistic goal for sales Saturday is $2,000, Ortiz said.

"But our actual (hope) would be to double that if possible," he told Joliet Patch's editor on Thursday. "It's going to be divided up. The whole staff will be here that day and everyone's getting a little bit. They're still comfortable with the little bit of hours we can give them."

Catrinas Mex, at the corner of Jackson and Ottawa Streets, has always chosen to follow the governor's directives, even despite knowing that many fellow Joliet restaurants and bars are choosing to ignore the governor. After all, the Will County Health Department, the Illinois State Police and Joliet Police Department, are not enforcing any of Pritzker's regulations.

Last week, for instance, five undercover police officers wearing camo ate their lunch inside Joliet's Hamburgerseria, a restaurant on Essington Road that has been thriving and drawing lots of positive feedback from people for defying Pritzker and choosing to keep its dining room open.

Ortiz is hoping that Saturday's giveback to the employees event is a huge success.

"It was my idea," he said. "I know I've seen it somewhere else from a few years ago. I just figured it would be a little encouragement for the employees to get through these holidays.

"I really want to emphasize that this is a thank you to the community because this was me asking them for a favor."

Catrinas Mex has kept its dining room off-limits to customers for the past two months now.

It is only doing carryout orders. People can also order through Grubhub and DoorDash.

Ortiz encourages people to call in their Saturday orders whenever they want, including Friday. "The burritos and tacos are definitely taking over," he said of the pre-orders.

Patch asked Ortiz how he felt knowing that several Joliet bars and restaurants are choosing to keep their dining rooms and bars open, despite the governor's order banning such activity.

"We're not angry," Ortiz said. "It is their absolute right to decide to open. At the end of the day, I've seen that just playing by the rules, it ends up working out in the end. I would feel bad if something happened and their license gets taken away. I hope nothing like that happens.

"For Catrinas, you can't risk having the virus out there. If there's a risk, why bother?"

For the interim, Catrinas is staying closed Monday. It is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. on Sunday.

The phone number for Catrinas Mex carryout orders is 815-714-2101.

The special menu for Saturday is right below this Joliet Patch article.