#Amo back in focus full#

Inside the restaurant, all employees still mask up as they work. “Just be friendly and nice to your bartenders.” “It’s not easy working at a restaurant, especially now,” he says. He sees the restaurant coming back to life and hopes that customers continue to follow regulations. Matamoros added he feels very thankful and happy to be back to work. He said he likes the volume of customers and the chance to meet new people.

#Amo back in focus full#

Originally, he went to work for Amazon, but described the work as “out of my comfort zone.” He joined staff at Te Amo a year ago, and now works as a full time employee. When Covid-19 hit, he lost his job working at another restaurant. Matamoros said he likes working at Te Amo Tequila. “It was difficult to accommodate but we did our best, we had our good days and bad days,” he said. He said that now that vaccines are available and Covid-19 rates have started declining, things are a little more relaxed. Several months ago, he struggled with customers who did not want to obey mask orders. When the restaurant first reopened, he said that customers wouldn’t respect the guidelines. He helped implement new mask rules, a 90-minute time limit on tables, and a limit of six people per table. She and several of her team members are now fully vaccinated.īartender Erick Matamoros, who has worked at Te Amo for a year, experienced the change within the restaurant. Salazar said that with the addition of delivery, both restaurants are now busier than they were before the pandemic. “Once they knew we weren’t playing games, everybody started listening and came to the restaurant with a different attitude.” “At the beginning it was very difficult … customers weren’t following rules,” she said. But it wasn’t easy.Īs restaurants reopened gradually last summer, customers were not eager to comply with citywide mask wearing mandates, she said. Having a clean and safe environment in place was a top priority, she said.

Her staff worked overtime making sure social distance procedures were being followed, and sanitation around the restaurant was maintained. She attributes that to the size of the restaurant and the restrictions she had to implement to keep everyone safe. Salazar used the funding to bring back her employees and hire four new staff members at Te Amo and three at Barracuda She said that much of the funding went to Barracuda, which is located on Chapel Street, because it struggled more. “I get 100 percent support.”ĭuring that time, Salazar was able to secure Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding, a form of federal small businesses relief. “My customers is my motivation,” she said. Meanwhile, dedicated customers kept ordering food and some bought gift cards that they planned never to use. She implemented smaller shifts to keep kitchen staff safe. Salazar worked to keep 14 staff members employed even though the restaurant’s focus was more on takeout and delivery. Salazar said that even one day of unexpected closure can be “fatal:” takeout and delivery helped the restaurant stay afloat as bills, rent, and taxes piled up. Given statewide orders, she implemented a pickup and delivery model in April of 2020. While the world shut down, she said her employees didn’t hesitate to come to work and keep the restaurant running. Ultimately, she put those plans on hold to ride out the pandemic. When the state issued shelter-in-place orders last March, Salazar was in the midst of thinking about opening a third restaurant. Salazar said the Temple Street restaurant never truly closed down-it just pivoted. “We’ve always had that from our clients.” “I wake up every day, thinking of that support,” Salazar said in a recent interview at the restaurant. The restaurant has welcomed back customers with new public safety guidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic. Restauranter Sonia Salazar has kept the business afloat while also managing Barracuda Bistro & Bar down Chapel Street. Walking down the street, the restaurant's hi-top tables and black seats are easy to spot.Ī year after reopening its doors during the pandemic, Te Amo is bouncing back. Te Amo Tequila Bar & Tacos is located on 182 Temple St., where restaurants, package stores and ice cream shops sit cozily shoulder to shoulder and pull in foot traffic. A single corner table sat open behind a Frida Khalo painting, as if it was waiting for a new arrival. Vintage Marc Anthony blared over the speakers. Customers laughed and chatted, some spilling out onto the restaurant’s outdoor seating while others remained inside. An aroma of sweet corn, chorizo and bubbly cheese drifted out onto the street. On a recent Saturday night, almost every seat at Te Amo Tequila was full.