One of the anchor restaurants on the the Capitol Square in downtown Madison is struggling.
The Old Fashioned, which first opened its doors to diners in 2005, has launched a GoFundMe.com page in hopes of getting enough support from the community to pay its remaining employees and stay open during the upcoming winter months.
"We are finding ourselves in survival mode and had to start a GoFundMe page," said Jennifer DeBolt, manager at the Old Fashioned. "We are doing everything we can to stay afloat but we just can not any longer without support.
"The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) allowed us to keep 24 of our staff employed, down from 108 when we closed our doors in March, and was intended to be a short term fix," read a post on the GoFundMe page.
The goal for the short term is to keep staff employed, serve the
community and make it through the winter in hopes of opening at 100% capacity as soon as it is safe for everyone, according to the page.
Money donated will be used to help offset operating expenses, employee health care and payroll costs, according to the page.
The Old Fashioned is not alone.
Earlier this week, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association said there could be steep repercussions from Gov. Tony Evers' new state order that limits the size of indoor gatherings.
In a statement, the association said that most restaurants will be faced with the difficult decision to possibly close their doors permanently.
However in a news conference earlier in the week, Evers emphasized that order is for only a limited time period.
"It's temporary, and it's not closing anything," he said. "They still have 25% capacity to work with."
To read more go to WKOW: https://wkow.com/2020/10/08/the-old-fashioned-launches-gofundme-to-get-through-the-winter/