OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Inside Papillion's American Legion Post 32, you can find Moran's Grill which is open, and offering curbside service.
A newer restaurant in the area, the family-owned restaurant opened November 1. Andrea Moran and her husband, who has worked in the food industry for nearly 20 years, went to the post in search of a reception hall and walked away with a restaurant.
"We were telling her what we did, my husband's been working in the restaurant business at Finzencho's for 19 years, so then she's like, 'Well, there's an opening for leasing the restaurant, and we just took it."
Two weeks later they were open, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, local officials have restricted restaurants from having dine-in meals. Like for many restaurants, that order left Moran's Grill's tables empty.
"I thought we were going to have to close also, and then we just realized, we can't," Moran said. "Everybody's got to pay the rent. They have families to feed, and that's just not an option."
In order to stay afloat through all of this Moran says they are taking phone orders and offering curbside service. They also offer catering.
"We've had a couple of businesses call us, for them to be able to feed their employees, and then they will deliver for that as well," she said.
Since it's family-run, most of their staff is family, so Moran has cut some waitressing hours. But since it's a new restaurant, Moran says there's even more pressure to make it through all of this. So she's relied on promoting via social media.
"I just started posting, posting, posting," she said. "I just had to keep it going, and everybody here, all the members here, have been great about sharing it and getting the word out so that we don't have to close."
Moran's takes care of the food, while the legion manages the bar. At the location you can do food and adult beverages to go. They're also open for fish fry take out on Fridays.
"With all the bad that's going on, there's good with everybody coming together and working together, and those that are saying they want to support locally, and that's just truly amazing to me," said Moran.
