The COVID-19 Pandemic has turned the once bustling Temple University into a ghost town since the shift to online classes was announced two weeks ago.
Students moving home from on and off-campus housing brought an unusual quietness to the area. Amidst the order to close non-essential businesses, the food service industry keeps its doors open to the public. One of these many businesses is Plaza Pizza on North Broad Street.
Temple Student and Plaza Pizza employee Delia-Monet Early weighed in on working during the pandemic.
“I’m not nervous. I think we are handling it the best way we can handle it, life kind of has to keep going and we can’t stop doing what we have to do” she said.
Like all other restaurants in the area, Plaza Pizza is currently limited to “pickups and deliveries”. This policy arose in the past week to promote social distancing to slow the spread of the virus.
A few restaurants have seen the restrictions as too cumbersome with little hope of steady business, and have opted to shut down indefinitely. However, Early noted that virus will not drastically hurt sales, and predicts only a small dip in numbers.
“We’re definitely a little slower but not too bad, I have only seen the weekend, but last weekend we were pretty much on track and Tuesday we were on track so I think we’re okay” she said.
In addition to the safety of customers, employee safety is a priority at Plaza Pizza. Rules surrounding wearing gloves at all times has become the new normal, even for those who are not in direct contact with food.
“…Our workers are wearing gloves and our drivers and cashiers who are handling money”, said Early.
Plaza Pizza will continue to operate on normal hours of 10:30 am to 10:30 pm as long as they are permitted by the government.
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