Now, the restaurant is seeing sales return slowly, but Motiwala said sales are still about 50% of what the restaurant did before the virus.
Although Alings chose to reopen dine-in services at 25% capacity May 1, Motiwala said many customers are still choosing to order takeout instead.
“We opened at 25%, but people are still not coming in,” Motiwala said. “I feel that confidence takes a while to come back."
However, Motiwala said the restaurant had great business on Mother’s Day.
“It was [the] one day in the past six or eight weeks where we actually met last year’s number,” Motiwala said. “So that feels really good, and hopefully, it keeps getting better.”
In order to keep dine-in customers safe, Motiwala said the restaurant has implemented a number of safety precautions, including sanitizing tables every hour, conducting mandatory social distancing among staff, transitioning to digital or disposable menus only and using only packaged condiments.
Motiwala said Alings now has just 14 employees after letting go of about 60% of its workforce.
“That was the most terrible thing I’ve ever done in my life—to lay off people,” Motiwala said. “The most terrible day of my life.”
Despite the restaurant's financial hardships, Motiwala said he remains positive about the future. He added that Alings has used this trying time as an opportunity to give back to the community.
Over the past several weeks, Alings has hosted a fundraising drive to feed families in the community, donated personal protective equipment to the city of Sugar Land and given away almost 3,000 meals to emergency responders, doctor’s office and hospital staffs, food banks and emergency centers, Motiwala said.
“Everything I have is because of this community—this county,” Motiwala said. “What we are giving back is not much in comparison to what the country and the community has given us.”
Alings Chinese Cuisine is located at 6542 Hwy. 90A, Sugar Land. 281-242-0432. www.alingschinese.com
