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How restaurants are coping after nearly a month of coronavirus changes

Many restaurants have laid off staff, adjusted hours, and gotten creative to sell more than just food during these times

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — It's a sign of the times in downtown Bloomsburg that reads, "tough times never last." To make sure those tough times don't last, many restaurants have made major changes. 

At the Blind Pig Kitchen in Bloomsburg, the current tough times forced the layoff of all its wait staff.

"It kind of was a decision that was made for us. If you can't have customers then you can't have servers," The Blind Pig Kitchen Owner Sarah Walzer said.

Now, the farm-to-table restaurant is offering curbside pick up and selling organic groceries.

"Every little bit helps, you know, you to have to get creative and figure out ways to make it work and offer the community the best possible food," Walzer said.

At Original Italian Pizza in Bloomsburg, business is especially busy on Good Friday. Only one customer is allowed in at a time.

"It's been a very Good Friday, you know a lot of people buy pizza and we've been very busy for the last couple of hours," Original Italian Pizza Owner Giuseppe Lafata said.

The pizzeria has also begun selling bleach, paper towels, and toilet paper.

Lafata said lunchtime is slow, but the pizzeria is selling the same amount of pizzas at dinner time on Friday as they did before the coronavirus outbreak.

"We actually have the same amount of people working, some people they decided they want to stay home, which I understand," Lafata said.

Meanwhile at Old Forge Brewing Company in Danville, customers are not allowed inside but staff are filling up growlers and handing off take out orders.

"It's been difficult for everybody but mostly on our staff because we had to lay off most of our people," Old Forge Brewing Company Owner Damien Malfara said.

The brewery in Danville plans to soon roll out online orders and online payments, more changes to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

While restaurants are doing what they can to stay open during this time, they look forward to a time when they can go back to business as usual.

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