With Corona virus on the rise, Mike DeWine has shut all the restaurants down to help stop the spread of the virus. Restaurants have the option to have carryout orders to make sure they do not go out of business, but the smaller businesses could still be in danger. 

Smaller businesses may be unable to do carryout, which can cause them to go out of business— but there is hope. A small family owned business named Tugboats is a restaurant and bar. Though it is looking rough, they are still trying. 

“We are opening on Fridays for lent and doing takeout and maybe trying delivery, but not sure about that,” owner Mike Munson said. “Other than that we are using the time to clean and paint and just do whatever we can get done,” 

Munson is trying to help the business still thrive as it usually does, but without customers his employees can be at risk. Trying to pay the employees without a stable income coming in is stressful for any owner, but he has been working out different ways to pay them. 

“I am trying to find different ways to pay my employees. I have some coming in to clean and paint, others coming in to cook on Fridays and serve the takeout food. It is very hard because I have a family to take care of also and with no money really coming in, it becomes tough to pay a lot out.” Munson said. “My employees are like family in my pub, I will do anything I can to help them. It’s times like these that we will all have to come together to help. I believe in all of them and feel strong that our little family will pull through.” 

Restaurants like these are in a time of need and some owners are worried about what is to come. No one knows what is coming in the next few weeks, and the restaurants know this. Munson feels worried like all owners do, but this is what he had to say. 

“I am extremely worried about the time frame not just for my business but for all small family owned businesses. This will be very hard on all of us. But again, our responsibility is to the safety of the people, and to knocking this virus out. The health of everyone and their families is the most important thing,” Munson said. 

Small restaurants could also face another problem, the food. Sometimes restaurants that cannot sell the food, it would just spoil. Tugboats found a different way for the food not to go to waste, but to go for others who need it. 

“We have cooked off the food we had left and are giving most of it to the employees that need it and to food banks. A lot of people out of work and hopefully in some small way we can help,” Munson said. 

Restaurants can be at risk but some are not losing hope. Munson has been using creative ways to keep his business still running but some others just cannot. There are restaurants that have been around for decades, but that will close their doors forever. Restaurants just have to hope that this virus can be defeated.