ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Restaurants are making a final plea before Buncombe County re-evaluates the capacity restriction that went into effect the beginning of January.

Restaurant capacity dropped from 50% to 30% because of the county's COVID-19 patient hospitalization numbers. Sherrye and Anthony Coggiola, owners of the Cantina Historic Biltmore Village, were ready to weather the storm. They had initial plans of staying open throughout the 30% capacity period.

But two weeks after the 30% restaurant capacity mandate went into effect across the county, they made a hard decision to close their doors.

“We decided to go ahead and shut down based on the Buncombe County 30% capacity and to keep our staff and guests safe,” says Sherrye. “We certainly don't want to be a part of spreading COVID-19 any more.”

The Coggiolas, after running the numbers, found they were better off closing the restaurant down until the latest capacity limits were lifted. They supplied their staff with groceries and are helping them reinstate unemployment benefits for the time being.

“Being part of the hospitality industry, the second largest industry in this area, we were hurt frankly. We were a little wounded that that we didn't get on a Zoom call just to discuss this before they made that decision,” says Sherrye when interviewed earlier this month.

Katie Button, owner of Cúrate, didn’t understand why the restrictions were being tightened.

“With added restrictions like a 9 p.m. end to alcohol service in our establishments and at 10 o'clock everybody has to be out of our dining room, we've effectively lost an entire term in our restaurants,” says Button.

She says every added restriction equals millions of dollars not going back into the community.

“Every time we ratchet up restrictions on this industry, there's a direct human component and result that is hurting individuals in this community,” she says.

Katie’s been vocal with county government about what it’s doing to the restaurant industry and calls it infuriating.

“We lost a third of our business,” says Button. "We saw numbers drop.”

She says it will be a long and painful road to recovery.

“We want to survive this moment,” says Button.

Buncombe County plans to re-evaluate the capacity policy Monday, January 25, stating if the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is down, the capacity limit would be removed.