After a temporary closure of nearly eight weeks, The Felix Cafe has reopened in Monkey Junction for takeout and delivery.

Owner Felix Scroppo said that when the executive order banning in-house dining first came in, he and his staff remained open for three days, but soon became overwhelmed by all of the information coming in regarding the virus.

Scroppo described it as frightening situation – not knowing how to best keep his staff and customers safe, what the financial impact would be to stay open versus closing, and so on.

“This whole thing has been one big question,” Scroppo said. 
After securing a PPP loan, Scroppo has welcomed his employees back to work and reopened Saturday. He said that re-opening was like opening again for the first time.

“It proved to be well worth it,” Scroppo said. “We had a great first day and Mother’s Day was wonderful as well. We had many customers call us back to say how happy they were with their meals.”

Scroppo said he took advantage of the closure by focusing on cleaning and repairs, as well as coming up with family value meals and evaluating which menu items would travel well for takeout.

“We’re more of a dine-in establishment,” Scroppo said. “And not everything on the menu travels well so we would rather eliminate those items than have them lose quality during delivery and not be up to our standards.”

The family meals for four include choices such as shrimp scampi, chicken parmesan, beef stroganoff and the always popular “build a mac,” a creamy mac and cheese base with the customer’s choice of toppings. Prices range from $18 to $54.

“Our customers have said these meals easily feed four, with leftovers,” Scroppo said.

Scroppo urges customers to call ahead with the time they would like to pick up their meals so that they will be ready when they arrive.

In addition to the family meals, The Felix Cafe is also serving starters, soups and salad, burgers and sandwiches, as well as a variety of homemade desserts.

The Felix Cafe is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and is offering delivery within a four mile radius of the restaurant. Once they are able to open for dine-in service, the restaurant will be open on Mondays as well.

“We’re happy to be re-open in this capacity, and we saw this weekend how much we were missed,” Scroppo said. “We look forward to regaining a sense of normalcy in the coming weeks when we can invite our customers to dine in again.”

The Felix Café is located at 5226 S. College Road.

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