Delaware Restaurants See Different Outcomes Nearly a Year Into COVID

DELAWARE- Delaware Restaurants may be on a path to recovery, but the industry says it is proving to be a long, tough road.  This is hard to see for many Delaware restaurants as neighboring state Maryland recently opened up to 100 percent capacity, but the past year has had different outcomes for many. George Stakias, the Owner of Goolee's Grille said, "Your business for everyone is like your baby."  Goolee's Grille has been around since 2004. Stakias said business took a hard hit and had to shut his doors to cut his losses. He says despite the nice weather he can't just open up whenever he wants. "You just can't open up on a nice weekend because it's warm you have to buy food, you have to prep the food, you gotta clean the kitchen, you have to prepare so it's not like lets open for a day," Stakias said.  His goal is to be open again by Easter. While the Delaware Restaurant took a close look at how the state's restaurants have been impacted, nearly a full year into COVID.  Carrie Leishman, the President of the DRA said, "The most important thing is seven out of ten restaurants feel that we are not going to be you know in better financial times for at least seven more months." The DRA estimates that Delaware Restaurants have lost over 1.2 billion dollars since last March. Another concerning number from the DRA shows that 17 percent of all eating and drinking places are completely closed. One lucky place not included in that statistics is Nicola's Pizza. Nicholas Caggiano, the President of Nicola's Pizza said, "Some days are down a little bit but during the weekdays and even some weekends are just up you know? So we had a good winter, I can't complain." Caggiano understands Nicola's is one of the luckier businesses, but still wants to see more change coming from the state. "Less people getting sick, and I know this thing is serious, there's no question about it this virus is serious, but we gotta open up also." Caggiano said. This Friday you can get a closer look at a year of COVID, as WRDE and WBOC teamed up to show how the Delmarva area has been impacted. Everything from schools, restaurants, and the workforce.