AUSTIN, Texas — Local rules for gatherings and masks vary from city to city in Texas. That variety combined with additional state-wide orders means business owners across the state have also taken different approaches when it comes to reopening.

But there is a fear now unemployment numbers could ramp up as more Texans test positive for the coronavirus and hospitalizations hit another high. This led Texas big cities to mandate businesses require masks to try to slow the spread. As financial pressures continue, some restaurant owners are hoping the public will help to protect their employees and themselves. 

L'Oca d'Oro in East Austin may not open to the public, but inside the restaurant you can still see employees busy working. Through a partnership with the City of Austin and Austin Ed Fund, L'Oca d'Oro employees are making thousands of meals for Austin students and their caregivers. Before July, staff had offered takeout or curbside pickups only. 

“We’ve been about seven different restaurants, I think, during this,” co-owner Adam Orman said.

About two-thirds of the 35 employees were brought back.

“The amount of stress in presenting and preparing and then the trepidation on whether or not this next thing works — it’s taken a tremendous toll on every [person] involved, but I would say that the staff has been tremendously responsive, courageous, and responsible. I’m very proud of them,” head chef and co-owner Fiore Tedesco said. 

The gig allows L'Oca d'Oro staff to give back to the community, keep the business afloat, as well as limit exposure and minimize risk during the coronavirus pandemic 

“What is most exhausting is that it’s a little bit different every week. You plan for something, three to four weeks out, and then when you're finally ready to do it, you're in a totally new reality,” Orman said. 

L'Oca d'Oro is one of more than 40 restaurants in the area where owners have co-signed a reopening agreement stricter than the state guidelines. The nonprofit Good Work Austin is working to support small businesses and promote the agreement which includes mandating masks, requiring dine-in guests to provide their names, and implementing an employee wellness charge. 

“We are changing the way— changing the way we charge and changing the way we pay so that our employees aren't going to be reliant on $2.13 an hour and a tip-based structure. We want them to have a more consistent income. We want to be able to provide access to health care, access to testing, and then be able to pay for the paid sick leave as well,” Orman said.  

Restaurant workers have been through a lot of changes and adjustments already and these owners cannot help but to think about how record hospitalizations and cases in Texas will affect operations moving forward. 

“It stretches out the timeline for everything,” Orman said. 

“It was not supposed to happen this way. It did not have to happen this way,” Tedesco said. 

Thursday afternoon, staff at Foreign & Domestic were prepping for dinner. The Central Austin restaurant reopened slowly weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott gave the go-ahead.

“It's kind of like push starting a car— you hope it works. We have just been very careful about it. We scaled back the menu considerably. We're running on a skeleton crew,” owner Sarah Heard said. 

Foreign & Domestic is now running at less than 50 percent capacity due to the size of the space. If they upped capacity, Heard said she would not be able to maintain six feet of distance between tables. She said most restaurants have a net profit margin at 10 percent and the costs of operating at 25 percent capacity for her restaurant did not make financial sense.

“We would not be able to reopen if we closed. We are fortunate enough to have a really great customer base that's been super supportive, whether it's to-go or dine in. But when you shut down a restaurant and then you have to reopen, there are so many fees. Any day that you're closed in a restaurant, you're still losing money,” Heard said.  

Heard also co-signed the Good Work Austin reopening agreement. She said she keeps in mind this is a hospitality industry and she aims to make sure customers are not only safe, but feeling relaxed if they choose to dine at the restaurant. 

“We want to make them feel comfortable by making them safe, but also maintain that relaxing feeling. We don't want to put people on edge while they're here,” Heard said.

Heard is thankful almost all of her customers have been cooperative and understanding regarding the changes. But there was one rare occurrence where a group refused to wear masks and she had to seat them outside in a table away from other customers. Heard feels such enforcement should not fall solely on businesses.

“If there's a mandate, that it should be enforceable by somebody that's making the mandate. We're already incurring more costs. We're already having very, very little revenue coming through. We are already working very hard to keep people safe. We need the public to be responsible, too,” Heard said.