RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – One year after a water crisis forced many Richmond businesses to shut down, local restaurant owners are still feeling the financial impact and remain concerned about it happening again.
Samuel Veney, co-owner of Philly Vegan, said his restaurant couldn’t operate during the crisis, because they weren’t able to use cold pressurized water during the boil water advisory, which is needed to wash the 200lbs of mushrooms they process each week.
“We couldn’t operate. We couldn’t operate at all. So, since we had to shut down and no one truly knew how long it was going to take, it was a waiting game. A then it was a waiting game that was costing us money,” Veney said.
Philly Vegan lost approximately $15,000 during the week-long shutdown and spent much of the year working to recover those losses. The restaurant’s first quarter revenue was $40,000 lower than expected…