ERVING — Pushed by the uncertainty of doing business during the pandemic, the French King Restaurant has reduced its hours for the second time in a year, and is now open only from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Since Massachusetts began a nighttime stay-at-home advisory, dinner had become much less popular, said owner Frank Prondecki.
“It’s like a ghost town at night. Nobody wants to come out,” Prondecki said. “We tried our hardest to stay open, and it just wasn’t working. We were still a little busy, but we never could depend on it.”
He said he hopes the reduced hours will only last a month or two.
Prondecki said he debated staying open, keeping in mind that his employees rely on their incomes.
But the problem has become that the restaurant can’t count on having customers for dinner, Prondecki said. This becomes expensive, because meat and produce do not last long enough to keep. If the food is not sold that day, it has to be thrown out.
“It just wasn’t worth it,” he said.
Normally, the restaurant is open Thursday through Sunday, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When the restaurant reopened in the summer after the initial shutdown in March, it opened only for Friday through Sunday.
It also participated in the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which helped to maintain operations, Prondecki said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Prondecki said, referring to the pandemic. “I’ve been working here over 40 years. I’ve pretty much seen everything. But this is sort of new.”
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.