CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — One of the more popular south side restaurants in town is looking to reopen later today.
Since the coronavirus pandemic started, Kiko's Mexican food restaurant has seen business drop by nearly 80%. It's a phenomenon owner Marcus Barrera say’s they've never seen.
“We've been in business 43 years. We've never had to shut down the dining room ever. So, this is a learning process for us as we go through this," Barrera said.
Barrera wanted to ensure that customers and staff are safe, so he made some additions to the restaurant
“Glass panels to separate the booths, the dining areas and we're also adding a UV light system into all of our AC units to help clean the air,” Barrera said.
The restaurant will be operating at 25% capacity and making sure customers are social distancing.
“We will stagger people out throughout dining rooms. We sit 719 right now so we'll sit right at 200,” Barrera added.
The restaurant will also be placing a time limit on how long residents can dine.
“From the time you get your food we would ask respectively if you take no more than 30-35 minutes to finish your meal, pay and leave, so that way we can sanitize the area and get it prepped and ready for the next table that want's to come in and dine," Barrera said.
He says some staff is scared because they are a high-volume restaurant. They're allowing staff who are worried to come back whenever they feel ready.
“There's no cure, there's no treatment. If this flares up again and there's hospitalizations, we're gonna have to go back to closing the dining rooms," Barrea added. "Of course, I don't want that none of the restaurants want that, so we've got to do it right. We've got to be safe.”
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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