CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio —  Tom Metlovski is the owner of Village Gardens Restaurant and Pub. He has been serving the Cuyahoga Falls community comfort food for the last thirty-three years.

"I’ve watched little kids who have come in here, and now they are grown up and now they have their own families they bring in now,“ said Metlovski.

What You Need To Know

  • On Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine announced a new curfew that will require residents to be inside their homes by 10  p.m.

  • Business owners are trying to navigate the ever-changing "new normal" and keep customers safe

  • Many business owners are unsure of what's in store for the future and are struggling financially

Over the past three decades, Metlovski says he’s never had a year quite as challenging for his business as 2020.

“We did the carryout, so that was the most helpful for us, but very scary. I mean gosh, we reduced down to just a few hours in the morning, just a few hours at night, and try to make a living and try to pay bills . My God, it was extremely, extremely scary.”

On Tuesday, Governor Mike DeWine announced a statewide curfew. Beginning Thursday, people would need to be in their homes by 10 pm. 

"The curfew is another obstacle small business owners will have to navigate," said Metlovski. “On Friday nights we have a nice regular crowd that comes in. They like to sit down because they know they are very safe in our establishment and they knew they could have something to eat or drink and 10 o’clock was obviously last call, but now, most likely, we have to do a last call at 9:30 to get everyone out of here.”

Metlovski is pleading with everyone to do their part to stay safe and healthy to help avoid a potential full shutdown.

“Quite frankly, I really don’t want to think about it. But if it does happen and we have to go back to carryout only, as long as I could pay my bills, I’ll be happy. We are not pulling any money, especially for me. I have no paycheck, I’m working long hours, I'm staffing more people, we have to spend more money to accommodate our customers and to keep them safe and to keep them well, but it, it just seems like every time we try to catch up, we just get pushed back.”