ATLANTA — It usually takes a lot of work to get the dining room ready for hundreds of people on Mother's Day at Cooks and Soldiers in West Midtown.
"It's kind of like our Super Bowl," owner Federico Castellucci said.
That was before the COVID-19 lockdown changed everything.
"Even if our dining rooms were open right now, we couldn’t even see a fraction of those people, and it wouldn’t be safe to do so," Castellucci said.
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Castellucci's restaurants are among many in metro Atlanta trying to salvage the big holiday by offering specials for families to take and prepare for mom at home.
"We’ve tried to make it really easy on dads, so we include florals, a card, a bottle of wine, the whole shebang," Castellucci said.
At Pasta Max Cafe in McDonough, the dining room seats are empty, but the tables are filled with orders that customers called in the day before Mother's Day.
"We’re hanging in there, and we can’t thank them enough," one employee said.
The dining rooms are open at Louisiana Bistreaux locations, but take-out orders are still popular despite keeping staff equipped with PPE.
"The service staff is required to wear either a face shield or a wear a mask in the dining room," the owner said.
Finding nontraditional ways to still be part of traditions will be key for restaurants during the pandemic.
“If we do really well on this one day, it can actually make the whole entire month worthwhile,” Castellucci said.