POWAY, Calif. — After a week-long, city-wide boil water advisory was lifted Friday, business hasn’t been flowing for Poway restaurants as they had hoped. Area businesses have reported struggles after the advisory caused them to close and lose out on several days’ worth of sales.
New York Giant Pizza was one of the 200 Poway restaurants working to get back on their feet as of Monday.
"It picked up a little bit Saturday and Sunday [was] a bit down and today still a bit down,” said owner Mike Hamama.
Hamama, who has owned the local pizza place for 32 years, said he ended up paying for a modified permit allowing him to open two days before the tap water ban was lifted. The permit cost him $459.
"If you ask me if it's worth it, yes, it is worth it, because you have to open, you have to pay the bills - what are you going to do?” said Hamama.
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"Somebody dropped the ball - that's what happened, and they should have known better” Hamama said.
Other business owners said as of Monday things had failed to pick up or even return to normal after re-opening their doors.
"The restaurants and employees were severely impacted,” said Debra Rosen, president and CEO of the North San Diego Business Chamber.
In an effort to boost business, Poway's mayor announced an "Eat Big, Tip Big" campaign on Monday.
The month-long effort encourages people from all over the county to come and enjoy Poway's many restaurants while also helping the community recover.
"We want to get together for the restaurants, folks that work here - show them a little extra love here at the holidays,” said Mayor Steve Vaus.
While Hamama is all for the campaign, he said it likely won't make up for the thousands of dollars he and other businesses lost due to an error by the city.
"The city has to pay for everything,” he said. “Today, I got bad news - my insurance called me and told me ‘you're not covered.’ That's a big impact, so we'll see if the city will cover it.”
News 8 has been told Poway business owners are meeting this week to discuss how to move forward as a unified group. But what that will look like was up in the air as of Monday.
"It all depends on the city - how they treat their local business - if they want to help, if they don't,” Hamama said.