TEXAS — Roads in most parts of Texas are still covered in dangerous ice. The conditions have forced many businesses to shut their doors for days. During the week, our crews saw signs on restaurant doors saying they were closed because of the storm.
On Tuesday, staff at Saving Face, a medical spa in Austin, spent the first half of the day just trying to get the lights back on.
“We just showed up today with almost, like, half-inch thick ice in front of our location and no power in the first two rooms,” said Brooke Nichol, owner of Saving Face.
Nichol said she had to shut down all of her locations for two days and had a late start Tuesday because of a power outage. It will potentially cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
“One of the biggest concerns is the amount of products that you have inside of a freezer that when the power goes out, you lose control over that temperature of keeping these products viable,” she said.
In North Texas, the general manager at Abby’s Bagels said her staff had a tough time getting to work.
“We were closed because our bakery team couldn’t get here… if they’re not here, we’re kind of screwed,” said Donna Ausmus-Laursen, general manager.
The concerns are also catching the attention of the Texas Restaurant Association.
“January is typically a difficult month for restaurants, January and February coming off of the holiday season,” said Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association. “And so to have now 3 to 4 days of either no sales or really light sales can be catastrophic to a restaurant, which typically only has maybe a week to two of cash on hand.”
The Texas Restaurant Association has 20 chapters, with business owners all the way from the Panhandle to McAllen and everything in between.
Knight said that no matter if a business had an inch of snow or two feet of snow, everyone has been affected. The Texas Restaurant Association is encouraging Texans to buy gift cards from locally owned restaurants to help make up for lost business.