Rocio Villalobos 
MCALLEN – “Not just us, but for over 100 employees shutting down means livelihoods are at stake.”
Chef Larry and Jessica Delgado own three restaurants in McAllen. They opened their first in 2008 and just celebrated a year of operation for their latest.
But with the coronavirus hitting Texas, they’ve been forced to shut down sit-in dining per Governor Greg Abbott’s order.
“It wasn’t expected at all. It was very sudden. We shut our restaurants down and relaunched them as carry out and drive through. We did that in a day. And restaurants across the state did that,” said Chef Larry.
They say their revenue has dropped by 40 to 50 percent, but have not had to let anyone go. Their employees were provided with the option to self-quarantine and some accepted.
“Since then we were also able to keep people on with a reduced schedule and we’re hoping that will suffice. But if revenue doesn’t keep up with the current trend it’s inevitable,” said Chef Larry.
With the recent ordering of “shelter-in-place” in HIdalgo county, which instructs residents to stay home “around the clock” with the exception of traveling for essential business, they fear their orders will further slow down.
“We need our local decision-makers, our local politicians and county judge as well to follow suit,” said Chef Larry.
Despite facing setback after setback, the Delgados remain hopeful that the situation will improve and they can pick back up where they left off.
“There has to be a beautiful change in this and it’s on the horizon, whether it’s weeks or months away, nobody knows at this point but we are hopeful that we will look back on this and have a new perspective on the world,” said Delgado.
Click on the video below to watch the full story.
