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During the pandemic, things were so slow at Catcher s, a seasonal restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, that owner Roland Buckingham and his son, Paynter, had to find ways to pass the time between filling takeout orders of crab legs and shrimp tacos. Basically, my son and I sat at a chessboard and did a couple of orders a night, says Buckingham, who whittled down his staff of 20 to a skeleton crew during the depths of the pandemic.
Buckingham now faces a new, albeit welcome challenge. Thanks to the CDC s surprise easing of mask and social distancing restrictions last week, vaccinated customers are returning in droves to businesses once hit hardest by the pandemic, such as gyms, restaurants, spas, and others in the travel and hospitality industries. Catcher s sales are up 100 percent compared with late spring of 2019, as customers are splurging on missed in-person experiences, like shared meals with friends.