Local restaurants dealing with restrictions

One local business we spoke with are grateful for community support.

Been almost one week since bars and restaurants across iowa and minnesota have been restricted to carryout or delivery.

We were curious to see how they're handling this new way of doing business.

Kimt news three's nick kruszalnicki spoke with one restaurant in mason city... and now joins us live.

Nick á what'd you find out?

Xxx calyn á i'm at southbridge mall, right outside the sports page.

They've only been open a few months, so a massive pandemic defintely wasn't written into their business plan.

I spoke with one of the owners about how they are getting by.xxx "it really did sort of take the wind out of our sails a little bit there."

Steven anderegg is one of the coá owners of the sports page.

He tells me the coronavirus has left plans for a lucrative march sitting at the dock.

"we were planning on st.

Patty's day celebration and then going right onto march madness and as a brand new sports bar we thought march madness would be huge for us.

Of course the sports got shut down early and then we got shut down on st.

Patty's day."

Since tuesday's restaurant restrictions, the sports page has had to cut staff down to one cook and one server.

It was not easy for anderegg to tell some of his dedicated staff to apply for unemployment.

"i feel for people that this is their only job.

It's been tough and it's going to be tough going forward."

Cash flow is down for the business, which relies heavily on alcohol sales to stay afloat.

They are selling beer for folks to take home with their meals.

"we've had nice levels of business come in for carryout only.

Lots of calls.

It's been a change of what we do here, but it's been quite nice."

Even with this restriction on their operations, they're grateful for all the people who have decided to buy a meal from them.

"the people that have come in and said 'we're here because you took a risk and we want to support you in these tough times."

Outside the sports page, mason city resident devin hundley is glad people are trying the best they can to support the river city's locallyáowned businesses.

"as someone who used to work for a local business, i really support that a lot.

Local businesses need people's support.

It's kind of important that especially in times like these they get anderegg also tells me they are following coronavirus guidelines at the restaurant á constantly cleaning surfaces and offering hand sanitizer for folks who are picking up their orders.

Live in mason city, nick kruszalnicki, kimt news 3./// the latest statistics from the uás department of labor show unemployment insurance claims have spiked.

For the week ending march 14th, claims went up