HUMBOLDT — Sandy Hurst is doing what she can to make the best of a bad situation.
Hurst, who has owned Humboldt’s H&H Grill for the past 17 years, has seen business plummet because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
She closed the dining area to the public when the state issued its stay-at-home order on March 30.
With only curbside pickup, carry-out and delivery orders, Hurst estimates her business has been sliced in half over the past month.
But rather than fret, Hurst and granddaughters Linda Farrill and Amanda Bain decided to spruce up the restaurant’s dining area.
They’re nearly finished repainting the walls and trim, which they started almost as soon as the dining room was closed.
“We do it whenever we have time,” Hurst said Tuesday, while frying up a batch of her signature hamburgers for a carry-out order. “We hope to have it done (today).”
On top of a fresh coat of paint, Hurst also is sealing crevices and further weatherproofing the room “after years and years of not doing anything,” she joked. “We’d been talking about it. Might as well utilize the time we have.”
Hurst said she is coping with the slowdown.
“It hasn’t killed us yet,” she said. “It’s come close a couple days.”
“We’re floating, but not drowning,” Bain added.
Since H&H is without its typically busy breakfast crowd, Hurst has an abundance of farm-fresh eggs at her disposal.
“I’ve been selling the eggs, and using that to buy paint,” she noted. “It’ll get it done.”
She’s hopeful the pandemic orders cease soon so she can reopen her dining room and see business back to its normally hectic frenzy.
