MIAMI (WSVN) - Usually around lunchtime, Cafe Versailles would be packed with people grabbing a small cup of coffee and talking about politics and other issues affecting South Florida.
Now, with the coronavirus spreading across the state, the seats at Cafe Versailles are nearly empty as are tables and booths in other restaurants in the area.
“This was inevitable,” Cafe Versailles owner Felipe Valls, Jr. said. “It’s something that can’t be stopped. It’s for the good of all of the community.”
According to the National Restaurant Association, the economic impact the coronavirus will have on the restaurant business, which is a $50 billion industry, will be exponential. About 12% of Florida’s workforce work in restaurants, with about a million people employed.
Jimmy’s East Side Diner on Biscayne Boulevard is usually packed for breakfast, but on Tuesday, none of the early birds flocked there.
With the restaurant ordered to be closed to the public until further notice, manager Edna Cadigil and waitress Raquel Gonzalez don’t know what financial future lies ahead of them.
When asked how the new restrictions set by the coronavirus pandemic will affect Jimmy’s East Side Diner’s business dynamic, Cadigil said, “It’s gonna be a big change. Well, we do have another option. We can do take-outs, so just let everybody know we can do take-outs, you can call, you can call and order and, you know, come pick it up.”
Gonzalez said that tips are highly important for her income and that of the other waiters at the restaurant.
“We don’t have a salary, so the tip is our salary. Without them, we can’t live,” she said. “We live for the tip. We work for the tip.”
Luciano Brihlo, the owner of Oh My Gosh, a Brazilian dessert shop, hopes his regulars who would usually be dining in order deliveries and pickups.
“We are very, very worried about this situation because we have a lot of staff,” Brihlo said.
When asked if he is keeping all of his staff, Brihlo said, “We are trying our best.”
The lunch rush never came on Tuesday at the El Cristo restaurant in Little Havana.
For the servers who work at the restaurant, like Ana Bely, the financial hit is already happening. Starting Wednesday, she will stop waiting tables and will be taking orders over the phone, and that likely means a devastating dive in what she brings home from tips.
“I live for the tips,” she said. “I’m worried about it.”
Restaurant managers and owners across Miami-Dade County are pleading the public that during the next few weeks, if not months, to support family-owned and local businesses, and leave a tip of one dollar or more when picking up or receiving their orders because their livelihoods depend on those tips.
The business owners also said they are working as hard as they can to transition over become takeout and delivery only. Some restaurant owners said they already have some sort of relationship with a delivery service, such as Uber Eats and Postmates.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.