Richmond restaurant closes its doors as COVD-19 variant cases rise

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The line around ZZQ Texas Craft Barbeque wrapped around the side of the building, but nobody was welcome inside as the business closed their doors due to a positive COVID-19 case in their staff.

ZZQ announced on Facebook they would be closing their doors from December 22 - 23rd. All orders would be picked up in a contactless manner with healthy crew members working inside.

Alex ‘Orange Graf, the owner of ZZQ, said these measures were put in place for the health of both guests and their staff.

“Without the knowledge of anyone else carrying COVID, is anyone else gonna test positive... everyone in my restaurant has been vaccinated so these breakthrough cases are terrifying,” Graf said.

Patrons did not seem to mind, as many lined up minutes before the restaurant opened their contactless pick-up service. Dan Yochelson, who was first in line, said his family specifically chose restaurants like ZZQ who have COVID measures in place.

“There have always been restaurants throughout the pandemic who didn’t mandate masks for their staff because it wasn’t mandated in their county and my wife and I wouldn’t go to those restaurants because we didn’t feel comfortable,” said Yochelson.”

ZZQ will temporarily close with no pick-up, until early January for a short holiday break. They plan to re-open their dining room on January 5th.

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