VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — After the tough year of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses that suffered losses during the pandemic are ready to kickstart the summer season.
Chris Pryer, a manager at Mahi’s Seafood and Sushi in Virginia Beach says Memorial Day weekend will be huge for them.
“It’s like the summer after prohibition ended. It’s like the roaring '20s,” said Pryer. “That’s what we’re getting prepared for, so we’re excited.”
But an issue he and other restaurants are facing: bringing people back to work. Pryer said they’re still facing staffing shortages.
“Kind of all across America, everybody’s dealing with the same thing,” said Pryer. “We’re just gonna do the best job that we can and hope that when everybody comes in people are super understanding.”
The holiday weekend comes just in time. On Friday, Governor Ralph Northam is lifting all COVID-19 capacity and social distancing mitigation measures.
Lindsey Presta, the General Manager at Chix on the Beach, said it’s perfect timing for the restaurant’s plans. Beginning Friday, they’ll have bands on stage and indoor DJs at night.
“We’re ready to just live a normal life again,” said Presta. “So ready for summer. It’s going to be interesting for such a big weekend to get it full-on.”
John Zirkle, President of the Virginia Beach Hotel Association, said most hotels in the area are already sold out or close to it.
“The hotels have been staffing up and preparing for this since the end of last summer,” said Zirkle.
Zirkle said he’s still looking to fill nearly 1,000 positions at hotels across Virginia Beach, an improvement from 1,200 open positions a couple of weeks ago.
“We like to think we’re all prepared. You’re always gonna have a hiccup here and there, but we feel confident we’re ready to welcome tourists,” said Zirkle.
Zirkle said hotels in the area lost millions in revenue last year. He said this is the year to make up for the losses of 2020.
Evan Potamianos, the owner of the Log Cabin Pancake House, said staffing has been an ongoing issue at his restaurant.
“We have another problem now. We have another pandemic, the unemployment pandemic. Which means we can’t open at full capacity, cause we don’t have the staffing. So, we’re back at square one,” said Potamianos.