When take-out alone won’t take you home, you have to innovate to survive.
“It’s a gut-punch, that’s for damn sure.”
Michael Herrara is sitting in an empty restaurant, surrounded by tables that used to be packed with hungry patrons. In his signature black crew-neck t-shirt, he’s looking down at his vintage digital watch. Sometimes a smile shows up on his bearded face – he’s not one to let circumstances get him down. But even his optimism has taken a hit during the coronavirus. On the wall, antique signs exclaim the virtues of eggs, gravy and good home cooking. Wraparound chairs, in blue, beige and dark cedar sheen sit empty. Masked servers carry a large brown bags filled with a to-go orders, scurrying past a motif that says, “Where hope grows, miracles blossom”. Sitting at the helm of a small business that’s as American as the stars on the flag, Herrera says, “I don’t know how we’re gonna make it.”
A Family Affair
When Herrera was 13, he began work as a busboy alongside his waitress mother. “She wouldn’t let me call her mom at work – said it was unprofessional,” he explains, “I started calling her Kat, and waited till my senior year in high school to tell her that one day I would buy the restaurant.” She laughed at her son’s ambition. When he made good on his promise, he renamed the place after her. Mama Kat’s is a family-style restaurant and pie shop, located in the San Diego suburb of San Marcos.
On Mothers’ Day this year, the restaurant was at full capacity from sunup until after midnight, handling as many to-go orders as safely possible.
