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Power outages mean lost sales, stock for businesses

Posted at 5:50 PM, Jul 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-22 17:50:42-04

DETROIT (WXYZ) — Losing power means losing money for many businesses, especially restaurants that have to keep food refrigerated.

That includes Wing Snob on the Detroit’s east side. Garbage cans are the only thing consuming their delicious food.

Virginia Robinson is the manager for Wing Snob, “We’re snobby, we got the best wings.”

Customers won’t be the judge of that because they are not open for business, after storms knocked down power this weekend.

The restaurant sits on the corner of Cadieax and East Warren Avenue. The south side of Cadieax has power, the north side does not.

Now, almost all of Wing Snob’s food is being taken out in trash bags.

“Meat products out, dairy products, everything that can be in the temperature danger zone. We have to toss it and basically start fresh now.”

That is a huge financial hit for them. Just one day of no power means:

  1. Throwing out about $5,000 worth of food
  2. Losing $2,000 to $3,000 in sales
  3. Employees are losing a day’s paycheck

“This one really cost a lot of damage.”

This location has been in business for less than a year. They’re hoping to bounce back from the loss.

According to the CDC, Americans eat more chicken than any other meat. They also report people get sick from chicken more than any other kind of food. That is why Wing Snob is not taking any chances.

“We eat here too so you know, I don’t want to be sick either.”

Robinson tells us DTE plans to have their power back on by Tuesday morning and then they will stack their fridge with food, ready to open at 11am.