Restaurants across Acadiana are getting ready to welcome customers back inside as the Governor's stay-at-home order is lifted Friday.
Restaurants are among several categories in phase one which will be allowed to operate at 25% capacity.
Many restaurants are looking to hire as restrictions begin to loosen, but those we talked with say it's a balancing act.
At Fezzo's, the sizzle of the grill and employees ready to take care of customers is a welcomed sound.
"We're very grateful for the community coming together to support local businesses and for people continuing to eat local," said Sean Juneau, Fezzo's marketing manager.
Juneau said while the service industry has been hit hard, Fezzo's was lucky they have not had to layoff any staff. Instead, they're hiring 20 new employees. The jobs will be a combination of full and part-time as the restaurant prepares for an expected rush on Friday.
"We're hiring for any position in the restaurant," Juneau said. "We're hiring kitchen, front of the house, manager, everything."
Across town at Pizza Village on Moss Street, they're trying to find a balance of how to manage the 25% capacity while still providing top-notch service.
"The busier we are, the more employees we need," said Walton Prejean, manager of Pizza Village on Moss Street. "Our curbside service has been doing so good that all of our employees have been working. To balance with the customers coming in, employees...the busier we are, the more employees we need so that brings our customer numbers that we can bring in down."
Pizza Village has hired a handful of new employees, but has kept the same staff. The biggest change is that they've shifted roles and cut app delivery service.
"We've been using our servers to deliver our orders. Obviously once we get back to normal operating procedures, we will revisit what we do about delivery. We did this to keep everybody working as much as possible," Prejean said.
These local restaurants are grateful the community is supporting them and their employees so they can continue to say we're open.
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