KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Some restaurant owners in the Kansas City metro are being forced to make tough decisions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The city's most recent restrictions require all bars and restaurants to close at 10 p.m. and have no more than 50% occupancy.
Carlos Mortera, owner of POI-O, decided to close his location on West 25th Street earlier this week.
Mortera said he started realizing over the summer that he would likely have to make the decision as it got colder.
"It was a really hard decision to come to even though we were still busy and it was still generating enough money to pay our staff and some of our bills," Mortera said. "The winter months are coming, and there's a lot of uncertainty."
The business, according to Mortera, lost about 90% of its lunch sales since the pandemic began.
"We adapted and tried to do a lot of curbside, delivery and family meals, but it just didn't make sense," Mortera said. "The best option really was just to close it without us going too much under."
Still, Mortera said he fully supports restrictions on businesses to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
"Whatever we can do to combat this thing we should do it, but we should get help from the federal level, pay people to stay home," Mortera said.
Mortera said it was heartbreaking to say goodbye to his employees, but he's been able to help almost all of them find new jobs. He also said he appreciates the outpouring of community support during the restaurant's last week in business.
"Our sales were something that I haven't seen since last year," Mortera said. "They helped cover a lot of the little debt that we had toward the end, so we're able to walk away almost debt-free."
Mortera hopes the business isn't going away completely, and he will continue to serve POI-O food as a pop-up location at his other restaurant The Bite.
