KC Chamber Matches Gift Certificates; 2:1 Local Restaurants Feel The Pandemic Pinch
December 21, 2020 at 1:25 p.m.
By Amanda Bridgman-
One of those ways is with Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce’s Kosciusko Cash gift certificate program.
The program is available for a limited time, where people can purchase gift certificates to redeem at local businesses. For every $20 spent, the chamber will kick in $10.
The chamber has $50,000 in its coffers for the program, Chamber President and CEO Rob Parker said.
“It’s going great. We’re about halfway through the $50,000,” Parker said Thursday. “We’ve got about 50 different merchants who have signed up for it, and we’ve gotten about 40% of the anticipated goal out the door, so we’re trending in the right direction, and it’s doing a lot of great things.”
Robin Watters, owner of Rex’s Rendezvous in downtown Warsaw, is feeling the effects of the health pandemic.
“It’s killin’ me. With the new mandates, I?can’t have a pool table, I can’t have video games and you can’t walk up to the juke box, you have to play it from your phone and everybody’s gotta have a mask on until you’re seated,” Watters said. “No live music, no karaoke, no live jam, they say you can still have music, but nobody can dance. Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?”
Watters said about 50% of his business is during the weekends.
“It’s really put a big damper on me, and through the week, I’ve lost about 60% of my businesses,” he said. “People don’t want to wear their mask, they come in and I have to tell them, when they get up, I have to say ‘put your mask on.’ I’m just trying to weather the storm right now, but with Christmas and New Years, people are tight for money and I can’t afford to give stuff away at this point. If I did, and I got a halfway decent crowd, I’d get in trouble.”
The situation is similar down at the American Legion in Warsaw.
Club manager Mike Davis said business is pretty slow.
“You know, our clientele, for the most part is older because of the Vietnam veterans, so most of them are staying home because they’re in their 70s and early 80s,” Davis said. “Everything’s going well except that our business is cut in half right now.”
A way to support the Legion, Davis said, is by ordering food. The general public is allowed to eat at the Legion or order carry-out.
As for the usually crowded Monday night bingo that draws around 70 people, “we only had 16 people show up last Monday,” Davis said.
Bomy Singh purchased the old B&K drive in on Winona Avenue in Warsaw before the pandemic with plans to open his fast food style Indian restaurant in the summer.
That restaurant still isn’t open, but he’s back to work and is hopeful it will open in a few weeks.
“Everything was backed up badly,” Singh said. “But, everything is coming up, I got the health inspection last week, and this week, hopefully, I’ll get the fire and building cleared. So maybe within a week or so we’ll open. I bought the building, and then everything shut down.”
Singh said he has been told he can have 15 to 20 people sitting inside.
One business that got creative was Cerulean’s in Winona Lake. With their limited capacity and socially distanced seating, they decided to purchase heated igloos and place them on their patio. Now, they can have parties of six at five more tables outside during the winter.
Parker said Cerulean’s is a great example of businesses learning to pivot throughout the pandemic.
A new restaurant in Warsaw is Ledgeview Brewing Company in the old Orthocity brewing building. They are hoping to sell large orders of their barbecue and meats to people for their New Years or holiday celebrations at home.
Online ordering and linking up with delivery services such as Door Dash have also helped.
To learn more about how you can support local merchants through the Kosciusko Cash program, visit www.kchamber.com/kosciusko-cash.
One of those ways is with Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce’s Kosciusko Cash gift certificate program.
The program is available for a limited time, where people can purchase gift certificates to redeem at local businesses. For every $20 spent, the chamber will kick in $10.
The chamber has $50,000 in its coffers for the program, Chamber President and CEO Rob Parker said.
“It’s going great. We’re about halfway through the $50,000,” Parker said Thursday. “We’ve got about 50 different merchants who have signed up for it, and we’ve gotten about 40% of the anticipated goal out the door, so we’re trending in the right direction, and it’s doing a lot of great things.”
Robin Watters, owner of Rex’s Rendezvous in downtown Warsaw, is feeling the effects of the health pandemic.
“It’s killin’ me. With the new mandates, I?can’t have a pool table, I can’t have video games and you can’t walk up to the juke box, you have to play it from your phone and everybody’s gotta have a mask on until you’re seated,” Watters said. “No live music, no karaoke, no live jam, they say you can still have music, but nobody can dance. Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?”
Watters said about 50% of his business is during the weekends.
“It’s really put a big damper on me, and through the week, I’ve lost about 60% of my businesses,” he said. “People don’t want to wear their mask, they come in and I have to tell them, when they get up, I have to say ‘put your mask on.’ I’m just trying to weather the storm right now, but with Christmas and New Years, people are tight for money and I can’t afford to give stuff away at this point. If I did, and I got a halfway decent crowd, I’d get in trouble.”
The situation is similar down at the American Legion in Warsaw.
Club manager Mike Davis said business is pretty slow.
“You know, our clientele, for the most part is older because of the Vietnam veterans, so most of them are staying home because they’re in their 70s and early 80s,” Davis said. “Everything’s going well except that our business is cut in half right now.”
A way to support the Legion, Davis said, is by ordering food. The general public is allowed to eat at the Legion or order carry-out.
As for the usually crowded Monday night bingo that draws around 70 people, “we only had 16 people show up last Monday,” Davis said.
Bomy Singh purchased the old B&K drive in on Winona Avenue in Warsaw before the pandemic with plans to open his fast food style Indian restaurant in the summer.
That restaurant still isn’t open, but he’s back to work and is hopeful it will open in a few weeks.
“Everything was backed up badly,” Singh said. “But, everything is coming up, I got the health inspection last week, and this week, hopefully, I’ll get the fire and building cleared. So maybe within a week or so we’ll open. I bought the building, and then everything shut down.”
Singh said he has been told he can have 15 to 20 people sitting inside.
One business that got creative was Cerulean’s in Winona Lake. With their limited capacity and socially distanced seating, they decided to purchase heated igloos and place them on their patio. Now, they can have parties of six at five more tables outside during the winter.
Parker said Cerulean’s is a great example of businesses learning to pivot throughout the pandemic.
A new restaurant in Warsaw is Ledgeview Brewing Company in the old Orthocity brewing building. They are hoping to sell large orders of their barbecue and meats to people for their New Years or holiday celebrations at home.
Online ordering and linking up with delivery services such as Door Dash have also helped.
To learn more about how you can support local merchants through the Kosciusko Cash program, visit www.kchamber.com/kosciusko-cash.
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