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Restaurant owners prepare for severe weather while juggling public health restrictions

Outdoor dining has been the norm for restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic, but high winds bring another challenge to the already struggling food industry.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento is known as the city of trees. The trees arch along both sides of the road leading you to your final destination, but with high winds on the way, problems might come for local businesses.

“We have bungee cords on the umbrellas to secure them a little bit. If things start going a little too crazy, we will shut them down, especially the ones on the sidewalk that aren’t anchored,” said John Lopez, owner of The Porch Restaurant.

For Lopez's restaurant, the porch is where most of their guests sit and enjoy a meal.

“People are going to get things flying around all over the place, unfortunately, things do land, like dust, in their food, so we have be careful to watch how windy it is out here,” Lopez said.

Lopez said, although they are taking the necessary steps to keep their umbrellas secure, the winds might hurt business if they have to move to only indoor dinning.

“It sure will hurt business a lot, especially if we don’t have more seating inside because we are at 25% capacity right now,” Lopez said.

That is also the case for Antojo Street Taco Bar, a restaurant which said business has been down this weekend due to the potential winds.

“The plan is we are playing it by ear at the moment. If they (the wind) do pick up a lot, we do have plans to bring the umbrellas in. We also have 10% capacity inside. If need be we will bring our customers inside,”  said Paola Alarcon, an Antojo Tacos employee.

To report a fallen tree or branch due to the high winds the City of Sacramento said you should call 311 to provide an address and a cross street. The city doesn’t maintain trees on private property, so in that case, you would have to call a tree care professional.

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