TOPEKA (KSNT) — Early storms in northeast Kansas left several businesses in the dark Wednesday morning.
Normally, Paisano's in West Topeka opens at 11 a.m., but a power outage kept its doors shut until 4 p.m. Not only did this keep foot traffic from coming in the door, but it also led to produce getting thrown out.
"Anything that was on top of one of our make tables was definitely something that we had to all get rid of and throw away," General Manager Katelin Moser said. "I think there was maybe some pans of chicken that we also had to get rid of. Then I believe there was also some noodles as well."
Between throwing out food and turning people away at the door, Paisano's estimates they lost anywhere from $1,000-2,000. However, it wasn't just the restaurant that took a hit. Employees did, too.
"We had to tell employees that they didn't need to come into work today," Moser said. "Which of course affected them financially. They were not able to put a little bit of money into their pocket."
It wasn't just restaurants that had a scare from the storm. One pottery studio co-owner left his house in the early hours of the morning to make sure everything was okay.
"I was a bit worried for a moment there," The Mud Room co-owner Andrew Linton said. "You hear the storm and the winds. We were running the kiln last night so we had a lot of students pieces that were being fired at that time and I was worried that the power outage may shut off the kiln."
While the kiln didn't shut off completely, it did pause. This brought concerns on where they were at in the firing process, but Linton says he's positive on the outcome.
"I'm pretty confident that we'll have just beautiful pieces as always coming out of there from our students and our teachers here," he said.
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