‘I have never been so scared.’ Local businesses fight to stay open during coronavirus pandemic

Chrissy Lee had always dreamed of owning her own business; that dream came true when she opened Parish on Cherry St. and Fatty’s Pizza.

But during the new coronavirus outbreak, the service industry has taken a massive hit and left her wishing she was anything other than a small business owner.

Lee is in a unique situation as she owns two restaurants and was in the process of opening a second Fatty’s location near Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard. The second location, which she planned to open in March, has no target date now that supplies and contractors aren’t available.

“I have never been so scared of anything in my entire life and it is not because of me or closing the doors. It is because we have over 60 employees,” Lee said. “They are our family and we have to protect and take care of them. We are not being able to do that because we don’t have the sales to accommodate that. It is a feeling I can’t even explain.”

That feeling is one business owners throughout the United States have had to face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lee said that those worries are compounded by the fear of someone contracting COVID-19 downtown. So she made drastic changes to remain open while not sacrificing the health and safety of the community.

The dining room at both restaurants is closed, with pickup and delivery options only. At Parish, food is exchanged through a window at the front of the restaurant. Drinks aren’t refilled; instead, a new cup is provided each time and employees are sanitizing everything as much as possible.

At Fatty’s, employees bring the food out to customers and have stopped cutting pizzas in order to cut down on contact between workers and the food.

Lee said her restaurants have taken extra precautionary measures in order to remain in operation without sacrificing the quality of their food or threatening the health of their customers. She has even installed an alarm in the kitchen to increase handwashing regardless of if the workers have touched something.

Downtown community coming together

Lee’s restaurants are just one of many local businesses trying to navigate through the outbreak. NewTown Macon, a driver of the growth in downtown Macon in recent years, is helping promote and guide local business owners.

Emily Hopkins, Director of Place and Main Street Macon Manager with NewTown Macon, said while there has been a noticeable drop off in visitors to the downtown area, she sees some positives coming out of this.

“Our businesses are not only promoting their individual business but promoting downtown as a place and their fellow business owners,” Hopkins said. “It is really encouraging to see everyone banding together and having a united front.”

The goal is to find safe ways for people to support local shops and restaurants. Part of that has been compiling a list and creating a map to show what restaurants are still open and what type of services they offer. A primary social media campaign initiatives is to get people to “shop virtually, spend locally” Hopkins said.

“We are encouraging people to go on the Facebook and Instagram pages of downtown businesses to see what kind of stuff they are selling,” she said. “A lot of them are taking orders by phone, some of them are doing appointment-only shopping, which is really interesting concept at this time, and a lot of them are building out their online stores if they didn’t already have one.”

The shift to the virtual marketplace is more natural for retail shops. Restaurants are encouraging people to order through a delivery service, drive up and carryout or order a gift card from them online.

The ultimate fear is that eventually, an order will come down that all shops and restaurants have to close. Until then, many businesses will work to remain open. Lee said that this is not an attempt to make a profit in the midst of a tragedy.

“It is so I can help my employees as much as possible,” she said. “I am not worried about paying my Georgia Power bill. I am worried about my server, who is a single mom who works three jobs.”

One thing that both Lee and Hopkins want the public to understand is that by no means do they want to jeopardize anyone’s health and want everyone to continue to practice social distancing; they ask that people try some of the alternative methods of supporting local businesses.

“Don’t touch your face, wash your hands, stay at home as much as you can,” Lee said. “I understand that you have a lot of decisions to make and I support whatever decision that is. ... Just try to be happy, stay positive and love one another from a far as much as you can right now. That is what I ask of people right now.”

Her hope is that this will bring Middle Georgia closer together as everyone tries to work through the unknown.

“It is a movie that no one has written the ending to and we are all living it,” Lee said. “We just got to stick together and stay positive and hope we are doing the right thing. ... I am not ignorant to the fact that the doors may close sooner than I would hope for this. But when this all is done, we will be here, open and with welcoming arms.”