'People rely on us': Western Pa. restaurant owners adjust to life as takeout-only service

Rich Cupka had to close his two South Side bars, Cupka’s Cafe and Cupka’s Cafe II , but he plans to make good use of the time off.

He’s ordered paint and floor stripper and plans to immediately begin sprucing up his establishments. His South Side coffee shop Cup Ka Joe’s remains open for takeouts. Cupka said he’s paying his 10 employees for the time being.

“I just ordered paint,” Cupka said. “I just ordered stripper, wax for the floors. In two weeks these places will be brand new.”

Bar and restaurant owners across Allegheny County were closing or relying on takeout business in wake of Gov. Tom Wolf’s order Sunday for Allegheny County bars and restaurants to stop dine-in service for 14 days. The governor on Monday ordered closure for all nonessential businesses in the state.

At David’s Diner in Springdale Township, co-owner Lisa Speer said they’ve curtailed their operating hours and will be serving customers by takeout and curbside only.

The diner, which she owns with her husband, David Speer, will be open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and remain closed on Monday. The normal hours are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Lisa Speer said they didn’t consider closing completely “because people rely on us.”

“I don’t want to let people down. I love my people,” she said. “I just don’t want to let anybody down. I don’t want anybody to go hungry, either. If I can do anything, I’m going to do it.”

Lisa Speer said they’re going to try to keep their seven employees working through this time. She planned to meet with them Tuesday.

“I want to try to use all the employees as much as I can,” she said. “The sad part about it is I can’t use all of them.”

She called the situation “a mind-blower.”

“It’s just going to make us strong in the end, I think,” she said. “It is what it is. There’s nothing we can do about it. You take each day at a time and how it comes.”

Officials with Ladles Restaurant in Springdale Boroughinitially had hoped to stay open for takeout-only to keep his staff employed. The restaurant has 23 employees, but has been operating on a “skeleton crew” of about eight to nine people.

“They’re paycheck to paycheck employees,” said Phil Corso of Ladles. “We thought about closing down, but we didn’t want to hurt the employees that we know need it.”

But by Monday afternoon, the restaurant had received almost no orders from customers. Typically, less than 10% of sales come from takeout orders during good times.

“It’s tough,” Corso said. “It’s something that we weren’t anticipating or expecting this soon. We really had no preparation for it other than just hearing it last night and trying to make the best decision for our business today.”

Tina Hammerling owner of the Apollo Café in Downtown Pittsburgh said she’s keeping the restaurant open for takeout orders to keep her seven workers employed. She said she was unsure how long she could do that given the mass closings of offices in Pittsburgh.

She planned to reevaluate following Monday’s lunch business.

“We’re going to play it by ear today,” she said. “Depending on how lunch goes it might not even be worth staying open.”

John Graf, president and CEO of Priory Hospitality Group, said he closed Priory Fine Pastries on East Ohio Street for two weeks, but the Priory Hotel and Mansions on Fifth hotel would remain open. He said the hotel bars are closed.

The company employs about 120 people, and Graf said the bakery employees would take accrued paid sick time. They’ll have to sign up for unemployment after that, he said.

“We haven’t made a decision on hotel operations,” Graf said. “We have guests. We’re kind of evaluating the situation. We had a huge number of cancellations between Thursday and yesterday.”

Graf said Mansions on Fifth would continue hosting events with less than 50 people, but large events at the Priory Grand Hall have to be canceled, including a wedding scheduled for Saturday.

“I was thinking that this thing was going to blow over in two weeks,” he said. “I think now this is going to go into late spring.”

Bob Bauder, Madasyn Lee and Natasha Lindstrom are Tribune-Review staff writers.