Businesses operating outdoors face challenges during Labor Day heatwave

And if the pandemic wasn't hard enough this heatwave is a double whammy for businesses operating outside this Labor Day.

“It was so hot and everything is outside so we’re kinda of stuck in it,”said Katie Guastini, visiting from Los Angeles.  

Katie Guastini and her friend wish they could sit inside at Grand Central in Palm Springs.  

“Its super hot we’re sweating while sitting and its pretty uncomfortable but yeah it was good food so here we go," said Stefanee Alcantar, visiting from Los Angeles.

Not only was the food the biggest perk for these ladies but sitting under a covered patio area with fans working overtime during this heatwave

“There’s definitely been some places where we walked up and there were no fans or misters just umbrellas," said Guastini. "We walked so you definitely have to something. its nice we’re kind of covered it really does help.” 

But that humidity and heat did add an extra layer of challenges for businesses this holiday weekend.

“well, we did have a few people go well, I'm from Texas and we're allowed to be inside and go," said John Diskin, Owner of Grand Central. "I'm so sorry. you're not in Texas. so there's kind of some of those things, they forgot where they were.” 

Owner Diskin said with an uptick in visitors stopping by he tried his best to accommodate customers especially in this heat.

“We've got four misters going and then we've got the doors open, which brings out some of the air conditioning. We turn the air conditioning on like about three in the morning to pull the restaurant down and then we leave the doors open. so at least that brings some cool air out," said Diskin.

At Maracas, they dealt with the same concern trying to keep customers cool and safe.

((sot todd flood-co-owner of maracas palm springs)) 

“It's a challenge to get the misting systems to fall further away from the building, with the conditions where the humidity's high, they tend to fall straight down," said Todd Flood, Co-owner of Maracas Palm Springs. "So, not a lot of cooling for people and they were, you know, people were actually pretty good about it."

“It being like one of the hottest days of the year its a little bit more than we can bear, we can definitely feel sweaty but overall we prefer that than being completely shutdown," said Francisco Arroyo, visiting from Los Angeles.