'Start all over': How Elmo's Diner and Cosmic Cantina have adapted to the pandemic

<p>Cosmic Cantina, a student-favorite restaurant near East Campus, seen here before the pandemic.</p>

Cosmic Cantina, a student-favorite restaurant near East Campus, seen here before the pandemic.

A typical night at Cosmic Cantina used to be more like a typical morning.

Open until 4 a.m. before the pandemic, the creaky-floored joint on Perry Street was the place to be if students wanted food after midnight. Over the past months, however, Cosmic has had to reduce its hours and seating capacity and shore up the amount of hand sanitizer on the premises.

North Carolina is in Phase 2.5 of COVID-19 recovery, which restricts restaurants to opening within capacity limits and not serving alcohol between 11 p.m and 7 a.m.  Given these limitations, businesses are finding creative ways to keep profit margins up, from scaling up take-out to working with delivery services. 

Elmo’s Diner Manager Amy Testa said that the pandemic has essentially required the restaurant staff to “start all over and develop a new restaurant.” 

One change includes adding picnic tables behind the restaurant building to offer customers a spot to eat their takeout, Testa said. 

One of the biggest concerns for Durham businesses when the pandemic hit was losing out on the large chunk of revenue they received from students at Duke and surrounding universities. 

Luckily, those worries were largely unfounded, as students are streaming in as usual, just in smaller groups and not dining in, said Cosmic Cantina Manager Leonardo Rodriguez. 

Rodriguez said that although profits dipped initially, they began to recover about three weeks into the pandemic.

COVID-19 complicated supply chains, however. 

For example, local chickpea producers were at drastically lower capacities in April and May, so Elmo’s had to temporarily cut their hummus platter. They also cut less-popular items from the menu in an effort to save money where they could. 

Neither restaurant has begun offering delivery, as both managing staff are focused on just making things work right now.

In terms of safety measures, the managers said that employees in both restaurants completed the Count on Me NC certificate, a public-health initiative that certifies restaurants compliant with local COVID-19 regulations.

Testa and Rodriguez agreed that Duke students are overall doing a good job of following coronavirus guidelines and taking safety measures seriously. 

The problem is non-student customers who refuse to wear masks, Rodriguez said: “It feels like I’m babysitting adults.”

It’s difficult to turn away paying customers, Rodriguez said, so these situations put employees into a bind: Lose the money or risk spreading COVID-19. 

Before the restaurant reopened, Elmo’s received a PPP Loan that allowed the entire staff to stay on payroll, Testa said. Customers also created a GoFundMe that raised $14,132.

“We were honored and overwhelmed by their generosity,” wrote Testa.

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