Item
Maple Street Biscuit Co.
Title (Dublin Core)
Maple Street Biscuit Co.
Description (Dublin Core)
Maple Street Biscuit Co restaurant located in downtown Saint Augustine, FL. Several signs posted on the front doors read: "Dear Guests, Your safety is our top priority. If you have any of the following symptoms, we ask that you do not enter: Fever, Cough." Another sign read: "We ask you please wear a face mask upon entering our community store." A sign that sits on the counter by the register read: "Out of respect for other guests and our team, please do not reach behind our counter."
Brief interview with Community Leader (Store Manager) Emilee O'Kelley:
What Plan did you come up with to ensure the safety of your guests and employees?
It is actually not my plan. The plan was implemented by corporate and distributed to all locations. In the beginning of lockdown, we tried to do as much to ensure that we could keep our stores up and running. First, we shut down our dining rooms. We made everything to go and third-party delivery. We went down to a limited menu. And we opened a community store where people could buy pasta, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, soap, paper towels and produce to ensure that our community was taken care of as well. Right now our dining room is back open to 50 percent capacity in compliance with Florida guidelines. All of the tables are 6 feet away from each other and were taking extra precautions by making sure all of team members are wearing masks. We offer guests plastic cutlery. We stopped operating self-serve stations and now a team member assists guests.
Do your employees currently receive hazard pay?
No
How has your business operations or income changed since COVID and quarantine?
Income definitely. We were used to doing $2000-dollar weekdays and $6000-dollar weekends and during quarantine we were only making max 600 dollars a day. With the travel ban lifted we have slowly gotten back to normal operations, but it is still not the same.
Did you implement curbside takeout? How did that transition go?
We did not advertise curbside takeout, but if they called and asked us to bring it out to their car, we would. We mostly shifted in a way to make our guests as comfortable as possible while following our corporate guidelines.
Have you had any issues with customers since the implementation of new guidelines, specifically the mask mandate?
No, because our store does not strictly require a mask mandate. We politely ask that our customers wear a mask, but they will not refuse service.
Are your employees allowed to ask customers to wear a mask?
No
Brief interview with Community Leader (Store Manager) Emilee O'Kelley:
What Plan did you come up with to ensure the safety of your guests and employees?
It is actually not my plan. The plan was implemented by corporate and distributed to all locations. In the beginning of lockdown, we tried to do as much to ensure that we could keep our stores up and running. First, we shut down our dining rooms. We made everything to go and third-party delivery. We went down to a limited menu. And we opened a community store where people could buy pasta, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, soap, paper towels and produce to ensure that our community was taken care of as well. Right now our dining room is back open to 50 percent capacity in compliance with Florida guidelines. All of the tables are 6 feet away from each other and were taking extra precautions by making sure all of team members are wearing masks. We offer guests plastic cutlery. We stopped operating self-serve stations and now a team member assists guests.
Do your employees currently receive hazard pay?
No
How has your business operations or income changed since COVID and quarantine?
Income definitely. We were used to doing $2000-dollar weekdays and $6000-dollar weekends and during quarantine we were only making max 600 dollars a day. With the travel ban lifted we have slowly gotten back to normal operations, but it is still not the same.
Did you implement curbside takeout? How did that transition go?
We did not advertise curbside takeout, but if they called and asked us to bring it out to their car, we would. We mostly shifted in a way to make our guests as comfortable as possible while following our corporate guidelines.
Have you had any issues with customers since the implementation of new guidelines, specifically the mask mandate?
No, because our store does not strictly require a mask mandate. We politely ask that our customers wear a mask, but they will not refuse service.
Are your employees allowed to ask customers to wear a mask?
No
Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
photograph
interview
Link (Bibliographic Ontology)
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Cities & Suburbs
English
Food & Drink
English
Business & Industry
English
Economy
English
Social Issues
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)
Collection (Dublin Core)
Collecting Institution (Bibliographic Ontology)
Flagler College Digital Humanities Alliance
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
06/06/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
06/11/2021
06/01/2023
Item sets
This item was submitted on June 6, 2021 by [anonymous user] using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: http://mail.covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.