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The ADVANCE, January 27, 2021 /Page 4A
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BUILDING BACK - Eric Reuschling of CrossFit Crazy Strong
in Vidalia has fared the COVID-19 pandemic better
than many gym owners. His customer base has not yet
reached pre-COVID numbers, but it is gradually grow
ing. Reuschling intends to stay open and to keep offer
ing classes as long as he can break even, He expects
profits will return later this year.
Road
continued from page 1A
funding for the state through
the second stimulus pack
age, the road ahead doesn’t
look too dismal - at least on
paper. But with a new presi
dential executive order for
a $15 per hour minimum
wage as some businesses
barely hang on, what does
the remainder of2021 really
look like?
In May of2020, The Ad
vance polled a group of local
business owners who were
just emerging from abrupt
closures in March. The vari
ous ways they approached
getting back to business
were varied, but they were
all united in their determi
nation to weather the storm.
Among those inter
viewed was Eric Reuschling,
owner ofVidalia’s CrossFit
Crazy. The gym shut down
in the last week of March be
cause of COVID-19 restric
tions. After a month and a
half, the business, initially
defined as “non-essential”
under state pandemic cri
teria, reopened as rules re
laxed. At that time, about
60 of Reuschling s clients re
turned for classes, and grad
ually, that number has in
creased to 80. “We dropped
three classes since last
March and we are now only
open for four classes a day.
We have not gotten back up
to our full, pre-COVID ca
pacity of 126 members, but
at least the numbers show
some sign that people want
to start working out again.”
One of the changes
Reuschling has made at the
gym is giving each client
his or her own disinfectant
spray bottle and cloth towel
to wipe down equipment
before and after use. Obvi
ously, masks won’t work for
clients engaged in strenuous
exercise, but spacing is not
an issue. The environment
lends itself to providing
space between each work
out station. “People natural
ly spread out in a gym. There
is easily more than six feet
between each client, and we
keep fresh air circulating.”
He said that there have been
no issues with COVID in
his gym. “What we are do
ing seems to be working.”
Last year was a break
even year in terms of rev
enue for Reuschling, but he
feels luckier than many gym
owners who ended up clos
ing and selling their equip
ment. “As long as I can break
even, I intend to stay open
and to provide the commu
nity this service. But until I
have 120 to 130 members,
I won’t be making a profit. I
don’t see that happening un
til all this is over,” he said of
the pandemic.
When COVID came
to town, Vidalia’s famous
Steeplechase Grill and Tav
ern temporarily shut its
doors. Sam Owens, owner
of the establishment famous
for its steaks, pasta and sea
food since 1996, said even
before the order to shelter
at home was issued by the
governor, Steeplechase had
been impacted by the fear of
the novel coronavirus. Sales
dropped steadily on a daily
basis. “We just went ahead
and shut our doors. It cost
more to stay open than we
were making,” Owens said.
He opted not to try takeouts
and curbside services like
other restaurants. “When
we closed, we closed.”
Owens applied for the
PPP and his employees
went on unemployment
and received government
stipends. He said in May,
“Most of them were making
more money not working.
With the stipend they end
ed up having a $ 15 an hour
work week, which is higher
than most people make in
this industry in this area,
plus unemployment.” Sur
prisingly, all but one of Ow
ens’ workers returned when
he reopened the restaurant
in May. But COVID-19
protocol required spacing
between tables that dimin
ished the restaurant’s seat
ing capacity by half, further
cutting into profits.
Now, with the recent
executive order for the $15
per hour minimum wage,
Owens said his future is un
certain. Paying employees a
salary of $15 per hour will
severely eat into his profits.
The salary hike might work
in places where people are
accustomed to paying more
for a meal, but diners in
South Georgia aren’t likely
to pay $18-$20 for a burger
to offset the difference, he
observed.
“People don’t under
stand that those salaries will
force food prices to go up
and they are just not going
to pay 40-50-60% more. The
market around here won’t
bear it.” From a business
standpoint, “If it’s worth
doing, it’s worth doing for a
profit,” Owens said.
The restaurant owner
said he worked 80 to 90
hours a week in the last 15
years to pay off his mortgage
and the fact that he does not
pay rent and has no mort
gage now has softened the
blow. “But I can see the writ
ing on the wall. I am pretty
much at break-even now. If
I have to double what I pay
labor, I don’t think there is
enough profit there.” He said
he has already filed for the
second round of PPP and
that will help, but he is con
cerned about the minimum
salary mandate. “I have to
officially run the numbers,
but I don’t think the profit is
there,” he said.
“We are still not back
open to full hours. We had
gotten to where we were
open every day except Mon
day, but we are operating on
dinner only now because we
can’t find enough employ
ees.” He reasons that unem
ployment benefits and sti
pends might be to blame.
When the pandemic
struck, Wes Wilkes, owner
of Hardware Pizza in Lyons
said his restaurant reinvent
ed itself. Wilkes took stock
of not only the status of his
business but also the welfare
of the community. He kept
serving customers through
takeout service and also
turned his restaurant into a
community market.
Since people were not
permitted to dine inside be
cause of pandemic protocol,
Wilkes began to offer items
that customers were having
trouble finding in the gro
cery stores. He sold French
fries, beef, chicken breasts,
chicken fingers, sugar, flour,
and yes, toilet paper. In one
of the oddities of the early
days of the pandemic, panic
buying emptied the shelves
at even the big box stores of
the commodity. Wilkes said
of the service he provided
customers as the pandemic
struck, “We are still stocking
some items, but the com
munity market has pretty
much played itself out.”
Additionally, during the
early days of the pandemic,
Wilkes launched “Hard
ware to Go,” a service that
offered entrees for two that
were available as takeouts
and could be cooked at
home. He also implement
ed “Heroes and Pizza,” an
undertaking that honored
front-line medical workers
and first responders. The
project offered 10 pizzas for
$100 and many community
members stepped up and
bought pizzas to feed local
heroes. “We made about
300 pizzas for 30 commu
nity events,” Wilkes said. He
also opened outside dining
until health protocol pro
hibited that. “We tried to
push the envelope to keep
things as normal as possible
because it’s a tough time and
we need normalcy,” he said
in the May interview.
Now in the first month
of 2021, everyday life is
hardly back to normal for
most, but Hardware Pizza’s
owner is encouraged. “We
are still seeing the effects
of COVID, but a lot of our
business has returned and
that has been a pleasure and
a blessing.” Since he was
interviewed in May, Wil
kes has maintained a safe,
socially-distanced dining
room, but that was not hard
to accomplish in his spa
cious venue. “Under health
code guidelines we are run
ning a reduced-size dining
area with fewer chairs, but
the spacing of our tables
goes beyond health guide
lines. We are proud that peo
ple can come in here and sit
comfortably”
At this point, Hardware
Pizza’s in-house dining sales
have eclipsed the takeout
service. “We took our big
gest hit the last of March
and first of April in 2020.
We have been on a steady
incline since then,” a fact
for which Wilkes expresses
gratitude. “So many busi
nesses are struggling.”
During the pandemic,
Wilkes was able to keep
all employees who wanted
to stay, but like Owens at
Steeplechase, he admits to
having difficulty in finding
workers. “We are in a con
stant process of hiring to
improve staff. There is a lack
of people wanting to work.”
Wilkes thinks the mandate
for $15 per hour minimum
wage will put a strain on
all businesses. “It’s good
for people to come out of
poverty levels, but for busi
nesses, it cuts into their in
come. Business owners will
say maybe it’s time to raise
prices.”
He elaborated, “A lot of
businesses operate on a very
fine margin. A mandatory
increase in minimum wage
will hurt the businesses if
they are not able to manage
sales and the costs of goods.
I see it (prices) all going up.
It is the only way to survive.”
Wilkes said he tells his
employees, “The harder you
work, the more I pay. I want
to keep you here.” He said
he is not really interested in
applying for the PPP right
now. “We are all sitting
around waiting to see what
new administration will do.
They’re already squabbling
in Washington. It’s so hard
to predict.”
The restaurant owner
agreed that employers will
have to do what they are
mandated to do, so for now,
he will take each day as it
comes. “But you have to
have a vision for the future
or you will always be in a
day-to-day operation and
that’s not where we want
to be.” He said he is always
looking to hire and inno
vate, find new ways to satisfy
his customers, and increase
business. But for him, it’s
more about quality than
quantity. “There is a buffer
line. We have a small kitchen
and there is only so much
business we can do out of
that kitchen.”
Wilkes has been uplift
ed as he has seen customers
return, but admits, “It’s hard
to predict whether more
people will be coming back
out after getting used to
staying at home. We are pre
pared to go back to takeout
if that is what is required. We
will weather the storm that
is COVID.”
At the time he was in
terviewed in May, the owner
of TreeHouse Bar and Grill
said he was not only surviv
ing, he was thriving. “I am
doing pretty well. I lost only
about 10% to 15% of my
business and all of my em
ployees are working.” Par
son, whose family-owned
eatery has been an institu
tion in Vidalia for almost 40
years, said he implemented
a takeout service that really
took off
Parson took advantage
of the PPP and his employ
ees drew unemployment for
a while, then everyone was
at work in the restaurant’s
lucrative takeout business.
His main concern then was
availability of products to
meet demand. “We are hav
ing trouble getting food sup
plies from vendors,” he said
in May.
Fast-forward to January
2021, and Parson is amazed
at how well he has done dur
ing the pandemic. “Some
businesses got better, some
got worse during the pan
demic. We changed for the
better,” he said. When asked
for the secret to his success,
Parson joked, ‘A lot of good
food.” But adaptation likely
had a lot to do with the sur
vival of his restaurant.
“We are back to full ser
vice. We are requiring that
customers wear masks until
they sit down at their table
and our servers wear masks,”
he said. Thorough cleaning
and sanitizing between cus
tomers is standard proto
col. Although no one in his
business has tested positive
for COVID, out of an abun
dance of caution, the restau
rant closed temporarily for
three weeks due to illness.
Commenting on the
$15 minimum wage issue,
Parson said accommodating
this hike will not cause him
much concern. “I am actu
ally paying my cooks close
to that. If you don’t pay, they
aren’t going to stay. Another
50 cents or dollar an hour
won’t kill me. But it will hurt
a lot of businesses.”
President of Peoples
Bank, Wendell Dixon, said
one indicator of a healthy lo
cal economy is the amount
of construction and home
sales in the community. “In
the last six months we have
done a lot of construction
loans so you have people
out there building.” He said
the bank has also seen an
upswing in the amount of
permanent financing and
long-term mortgages, ow
ing in part to the low inter
est rates.
Last year, the bank
processed 117 PPP
loans-$12.5 million worth.
Now that the second round
of PPPs has started up, the
bank is getting lots of re
quests to apply, Dixon said.
“This year, the PPPs are
little different. In order to
qualify, the applicant will
have to show a 25% loss
when comparing one quar
ter from 2019 and one quar
ter from 2020.”
Dixon said another
sign of an improved local
economy is in the decline
of NSF fees and overdrafts.
Customers, including com
mercial clients, have money
in their accounts. “People
are saving more.” He attri
butes this to the influx of
federal dollars into personal
and commercial accounts.
“One negative I have heard
is that the cost of building
materials went up because
of supply and demand, and
for a while, it was hard to
get major appliances.” He
added, “The hospitality in
dustry has been hurt worse
than anybody,” and right
now, the big issue facing res
taurants is finding depend
able workers.
Dent Temples, a certi
fied commercial investment
manager who founded The
Temples Company in Vida
lia in 1992, manages some
200 properties across the
state including about 50
local tenants. Most of his
clients had a good year in
2020. “We have seen some
very good percentage sales
increases. The sales volume
for 2020 was better than in
2019,” he said. “The people
who seem to be hurting the
most are fitness centers,
nail salons and some of the
restaurants. Most of restau
rants are hurting because
they cannot find employ-
ees.
Temples noted, “We
saw more sales volume in
2020 than in 2019 because
of the amount of money
the federal government
poured into the economy.
There was more spendable
income so people went out
and spent it. That is not
surprising when that much
extra money flows in. If the
government puts out as
much free money as it has
been, we will see continued
good sales.”
Sensights reports that
Georgia is in the nation’s
top 10 states in making
strides toward recovery
from the pandemic. Geor
gia is seventh among the
states that are closest to
seeing pre-pandemic eco
nomic conditions. Senator
Blake Tillery commented,
“Federal dollars have left
Georgia’s economy much
better off than we predicted
this summer. We approach
the FY21 amended and
FY22 budgets in a position
to shore up Georgia’s needs
while still being cautious
about Georgia’s future. The
road ahead is not smooth
yet, but it is definitely better
than it could be!”
What Is a Dogtrot House?
Dogtrot homes were developed
in several areas across the South and
are characterized by a large, open
breezeway that runs through the
middle of the house, with separate
rooms on either side. It historically
consisted of two log cabins connect
ed by a breezeway under one roof.
Dogtrot houses originated prior
to air condition
ing or electricity
when rural agri
cultural families
in the warm cli
mates built houses
to take advantage
of cross breezes.
Several windows
on all sides of the
house and the cen
tral open hallway created air cur
rents which pulled cooler outside
air into the living quarters and down
the breezeway, where the family dog
was likely to camp out.
These homes were tradition
ally one-story, log structures with
chimneys on each side of the house.
Typically, the central breezeway
separated the private living areas
from the kitchen and dining room,
which also helped to isolate the heat
and keep the rest of the house cool.
Dogtrot houses were usually raised
several feet off the ground (another
way to help keep the house cool)
and had porches
on the front and
back of the house
that spanned the
full width of the
house.
The dogtrot
is still a unique
feature that some
people incorpo
rate into their new
homes. Having a fully open central
hallway gives homeowners the perk
of indoor-outdoor living, especially
if each end of the hallway is enclosed
with wide doors that open, creating
that interior breezeway when the
weather is right.