As Georgia Governor Brian Kemp orders his state re-opened, business owners in Atlanta are split in their reactions to the order. Some, like Killer Mike, agree with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms that it’s too soon to re-open. Mike said he refused to re-open his chain of barbershops, because he doesn’t want to risk the health of his employees and customers. However, others are willing to get back their employees back to work, so they can feed their families.
According to TMZ, 2 Chainz falls into the latter category. The rapper owns two restaurants in Atlanta, Escobar Restaurant and Tapas, and told TMZ he and his business partner Snoop Dillard, will begin dine-in service on Monday, April 27. The restaurants were service takeout only for the past month, but sales have been down 95% and the restaurants were forced to furlough 80% of their staff. According to Dillard, the plan is bring back 65% of restaurant staff, which comes to around 80 people.
Chainz and Dillard are imposing safety precautions such as temperature checks at clock-in, mandatory gloves for all employees, masks for the cooks, and single-use paper menus. They hope that they will be able to host sit-down service safely, with live DJs on the weekend and even hookahs, since most customers bring their own hoses. The restauranteurs already donated “hundreds” of meals to local medical workers and told TMZ they are planning on giving more to workers at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Piedmont Atlanta Hospital.
