Pizza location provides insight to some of its challenges
(Seguin) – While there was and still is a mixture of businesses and restaurants closed due to the gas outage, one thing was clear Tuesday, there were no pizzas in Seguin.
That’s according to Rosie Arevalo, owner of Rosie’s Pizza To Go located at 427 W. Kingsbury St. Arevalo says she speaks for most of her restaurant colleagues by saying that she was shocked to learn that her kitchen was not firing up Tuesday morning.
“I came in the morning at 8 o’clock because we have been so shorthanded and so two workers go in at 8 o’clock to make the dough so that it does not have to be made at night. So, we filled up all the racks with dough and got everything ready and we had orders already. We turned on the ovens at 10:45 – nothing. Nobody informed us. Nobody let us know so right now, my walk-in is full of dough that was not able to be used that I’m going to have to throw it all away because it’s bloated flowing over the racks,” said Arevalo.
Arevalo says being forced to close this week has no doubt been challenging.
“We are just a family-owned small business, and we don’t have corporate or anything to back us up so whatever we lose is lost. We can’t get that back or it comes off the business end to where my employees – I have to cut down on employees. I have to cut down on certain items that I use at the pizza place because there is no income coming in from the days that we have to close. When it is something like this, it is very hard especially for my employees that depend on the money they make working. It’s so hard for me to tell them ‘hey, don’t come in today. We are running,’” said Arevalo.
Although Seguin has independently been thrown another obstacle, Arevalo says the support that it receives from local customers is what helps keep them going.
“It’s a challenge. It’s been a real challenge but thank God Seguin stepped up. When they see that we are slow or for a certain reason we are closed like during the snowstorms, they stepped up and helped us so much. They helped us survived literally. Even with COVID, we got double busy trying to help us with our business and something that I’ll always appreciate that they have stepped up major. They helped us really keep our doors open,” said Arevalo.
Now if they did manage to stay open, many restaurants found themselves only offering a limited menu or altered their hours of operation. Others who were able to utilize electricity, like Savannahs Snacks and Snow Cones, chose to even open its doors on Wednesday when it is normally closed. Again, customers are asked to have patience as CenterPoint Energy crews work to restore service today. The hope for local businesses is to be back in normal operation by end of Friday.