‘So much for some of those people saying nobody would show up…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) A Colorado restaurant drew dozens of customers on Mother’s Day after it reopened in defiance of the state’s shelter-in-place orders.
The Castle Rock restaurant, C&C Coffee and Kitchen, reopened this weekend despite Gov. Jared Polis’s order requiring restaurants to limit their business to takeout and delivery.
April Arellano, the owner of the restaurant, said on Facebook that she reopened because she “would go out of businesses” if she didn’t.
“We are so behind,” she commented. “We have complied for two months. We cannot make it on $200/day sales when 2 staff cost me $250 not counting, food, cost, utilities and rent.”
@realDonaldTrump We are standing for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado!! ???????? https://t.co/dfzdR7bKFe
— C&C Coffee and Kitchen (@cccoffeekitchen) May 9, 2020
Her reopening was met with a crowd of Coloradans eager to support the local business.
Happy Mother’s Day from C& C in Castle Rock, where the owner said this is almost double a normal Mother’s Day. pic.twitter.com/cPSzjmAfAg
— Nick Puckett (@nick__puckett) May 10, 2020
“So much for some of those people saying nobody would show up,” Arellano said in a Facebook Live video. “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the support, guys. I got to get back to work.”
Polis’s office blasted C&C Coffee and Kitchen in a statement this weekend, accusing Arellano of putting community members’ lives in danger.
“These restaurants are not only breaking the law, they are endangering the lives of their staff, customers, and community,” Shelby Wieman, Polis’s deputy press secretary, said, according to the Denver Post.
A spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said that violating Polis’s order by reopening is punishable by a fine of $1,000 or up to a year in jail.
She also said businesses that reopen in defiance of the state’s shelter-in-place order could lose their licenses to operate.
But Arellano said she doesn’t care. “If I lose the business at least I’m fighting,” she wrote on Facebook.