COVID-19 has ravaged the restaurant industry and the local economy. With limited seating and the danger that the virus poses, restaurants are grappling with the hard reality of indoor dining.

Some local restaurants and businesses have managed to do better than others, including Schlittz & Giggles, a local pizza restaurant frequented by some LSU students.

“Our sales have actually been better since the pandemic started,” Samantha Hughey, an employee at Schlittz & Giggles, said.

While the pizza delivery service hasn’t felt the impact from the pandemic as severely as other restaurants, COVID-19 is still taking its toll on the industry.

“Our greatest challenge has been making sure that customers comply with the mask policy,” Hughey said.

Other restaurants rely on the crowds that local bars and LSU tailgating brings.

Pluckers Wing Bar, located near Tigerland, has been struggling since the pandemic started. 

There was a COVID-19 outbreak at Tigerland in June and bars were then closed following Gov. John Bel Edwards announcement of statewide bar restrictions on July 11. 

Baton Rouge bars reopened Sept. 30 after approval was granted by Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control.

Despite bars reopening near Pluckers Wing Bar, General Manager Norbert Weinert said business has not returned to what it was before the pandemic.

“We saw less than a fraction of what we normally do,” Weinert said.

The wing restaurant has seen a multitude of issues take place since the pandemic began.

“We actually had to cut back our hours,” Weinert said. “We usually get a big rush when the bars close. It’s nothing like it was before.”

It wasn’t just the closure of the bars on July 11 that affected the business.

“Football season was bad,” Weinert said. “Sales are not even close to where they were. Sometimes ten to twenty thousand dollars less.”

Instead of having to let go of employees, Pluckers Wing Bar was faced with the opposite dilemma.

“We didn’t have to let go of many employees,” Weinert said. “A lot of employees didn’t want to work. We’ve had to begin rebuilding.”

Nearby at The Kolache Kitchen, as students return back to campus, business is getting better.

“We’re near LSU, so once students left, that affected business a little bit, but now that school is back, things are picking up again,” William Hancock, an employee at The Kolache Kitchen, said.

The Kolache Kitchen struggled when the pandemic first began and orders were slowing down.

“During the start of the pandemic, there were not enough people buying stuff,” Hancock said. “We had to let a lot of employees go. Just managers were working.”

It’s not just local restaurants that are feeling the impacts of the pandemic. The Varsity Theatre is complying with the governor’s COVID-19 orders which currently has Louisiana in phase 3 mitigation measures, including a statewide mask mandate and is closed indefinitely, according to its owner.

The CVS store on Highland Road hasn’t seen as much business as it usually does, but has started to see more people come into the store since the start of the second semester.

“We have slowed down, but since school has started, we’ve picked up to probably around 60 to 70% of our original numbers,” Katherine Stracner, an employee at CVS, said.

The main focus at CVS is ensuring that customers are wearing their masks and staying safe, according to Stracner.

“All of us working at CVS are risking our health with sick customers coming in just so we can pay the bills, and a lot of the customers don’t seem to respect that or respect that they need to wear a mask because we have a lot of kind elderly customers coming in who have no other choice and need their medicine,” Stracner said. 

Stracner said around 90% of customers wear their mask when they walk in but for the other 10%, she has to “politely but forcefully remind them.”

“It’s really disappointing,” she said. “The lack of scientific literacy and basic human empathy is astounding.”

These are impacts that local businesses could be dealing with until a vaccine is readily available for the general public in Baton Rouge.

East Baton Rouge Parish has issued the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) aimed at helping small businesses receive the help they need. The plan, which started April 3, 2020, provides small businesses with funds to pay up to 8 weeks of payroll costs including benefits.

“Businesses with fewer than 500 employees may be eligible for forgivable PPP loans for up to 8 weeks of payroll and other expenses due to the COVID-19 quarantine,” according to the East Baton Rouge Parish website.

There have been no reports of any local business closing permanently near the LSU campus due to COVID-19.