OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Located near 90th St. and Maple Streets, Homestyle Cafe, which opened a few years ago, has an extensive list of menu items.
"Our staple items are like our chicken fried steaks, country fried steaks, mashed potatoes, gravy, meatloaf, pork chops and then of course our menu items, cheeseburgers, hamburgers, phillies, chicken phillies," said head chef, Jeff Miller.
Right now, their tables are empty, which is a rare sight for Miller.
"We'd get a full house every day; every Saturday and Sunday we have a full house," Miller said. "And right before St. Patrick's day of course, everything went to a lockdown."
Since then, business has been hit or miss.
"We took a big financial hit. It's challenging, but you have to just kinda think outside the box, and just come up with meals that people want to eat at home."
They've adjusted by offering only curbside or to-go, with new temporary hours. They've also reduced the amount of people working, as they are not busy enough to have a full staff.
"We all had a meeting when this all happened and it was like, 'okay, let's sit down, let's pick out a schedule, what works for you.' And of course, some people need to work more than others and so whoever needs to work we give them the hours."
They're doing their best to split hours, some working three hours a day, others about four.
"Normally there are four cooks. Each cook will work a split for the day and take time off or maybe work in the morning, and the other cook works in the afternoon, just to kind of keeping some kind of income so they're not totally broke."
When it comes to ordering food from their vendors, they're also being frugal.
"We keep our orders to a minimum, because we never know from day to day if the mayor might come out and say, 'we're going to shut down for two weeks.' So we try and keep our orders as small as we can. They've been very cooperative with us."
Whenever they can open back up, Miller says they'll have a table ready for you.
Homestyle Cafe
- 2822 N. 88th st. Omaha, NE 68134
- Adjusted hours: 8:30AM-1:30PM, 4-7:30PM, Seven days a week
- Phone: 402-934-8589
- Services: curbside, to-go services
