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Winter Garden businesses post ‘survival number’ of customers needed daily

Owners hope transparency enables customers to take active role

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – With a statewide stay at home order set to go into effect, local businesses are struggling to stay afloat. A dozen of the businesses still open in downtown Winter Garden recently shared the survival numbers they need to meet every day in order to stay open.

[RELATED: Florida will soon be under a statewide stay-at-home order. Here’s what it means]

The number can be measured in as each business chooses including meals, olive oil sold, or cups of coffee

Chris Chan and “We Are Winter Garden” compiled the list on Facebook.

"It's kind of eye-opening," he said. "To be able to visually see these numbers of how you can step in and help those businesses, it changes everything."

Business owners told News 6 these “survival numbers” fluctuate and differ throughout the week, based on expected demand.

Melts on Main, which specializes as a healthy, locally-sourced sandwich shop, is one of the businesses participating.

"Since March, sales have declined tremendously," owner Ashley Morton said. "The number kind of turns on the light for people and saying we need to help them out, whether its, Melts today, it's every day doing your part."

Morton told News 6 her business is hitting its daily benchmark a couple of times a week, while others like The Sacred Olive, are not.

"We're not, we're not," Carolyn Hill, owner at The Sacred Olive, said. "We have people coming in but not to the amount we are talking about."

Hill set her number at 25 customers, the absolutely bare minimum needed to stay afloat.

"Just to keep the door open, pay my employees, and serve our community," she said.

Business owners told News 6 they’re continuously looking at new ways to attract people back to the downtown amid coronavirus concerns.

To keep up with the latest news on the pandemic, subscribe to News 6′s coronavirus newsletter or go to ClickOrlando.com/coronavirus.


About the Author
Clay LePard headshot

It has been an absolute pleasure for Clay LePard living and working in Orlando since he joined News 6 in July 2017. Previously, Clay worked at WNEP TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he brought viewers along to witness everything from unprecedented access to the Tobyhanna Army Depot to an interview with convicted double-murderer Hugo Selenski.

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