TULSA, Okla. — The coronavirus pandemic is hitting local restaurants hard. Many of them are struggling to stay open. We want to highlight the ones that continue to serve customers and help its employees in our series “We’re Open Green Country.”
Cooking at Taziki’s in Tulsa is in full swing. The Mediterranean cuisine restaurant is working to fill orders for customers to take home. Their dining room is closed, meaning fewer customers and less work for employees.
“All of them paying their bills, taking care of their children, they don’t know whether they’re going to have work tomorrow or the next day or next week even," said Brian Montoya, general manager of Taziki's. "So, we don’t even know what’s going to happen for sure.”
Managers say they’re trying to support employees however they can. They’re going to give them one free meal a day and are looking at ways to create more hours for them. One way is their own delivery service.
“So, we are going to use our own employees to do delivery in a few miles radius at both of our locations so they can make some hours," said Dino Nithianandan, operating partner at Taziki's. "Trying to find a way to think outside the box to help all of the employees and also all of our customers.”
The restaurant says they’ve seen a lot of support from customers from all over the area.
“I got several text messages from all of our regulars. 'Hey, hang in there. We will do our best to support you,'" Nithianandan said. "That’s kind of overwhelming, you know. So, hopefully, we can come out of this in a positive way as soon as possible.”
They’re encouraging customers to order online or over the phone and use their curbside pick up. They're also on Uber Eats and Door
“We are doing everything we can to make sure that guests don’t have to walk in," Nithianandan said. "They can still come and pull up to our curbside and they can call the order. We can take the order of their food to their car.”
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