Peaches Family Restaurant Temporarily Closed Due to COVID-19

Peaches Family Restaurant, a decades-long Casper staple, announced on Friday that would be closed "at least" through the weekend due to COVID-19.

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The news came from a post made on the restaurant's social media page.

"We have closed down for at least today and tomorrow," they wrote. "Our collective experience here in the last few weeks leading up today - and especially today - is worse than any other point in the 20+ months dealing with this virus. We will re-open after everyone passes their tests and we can safely operate."

A week earlier, Peaches announced that for the time being, they would be 'Drive-Thru only.'

"Peaches will be Drive-Thru only for the time being," they wrote on September 29. "Some very important staff members are quarantined and/or sick and the rate of transmission in our community is incredibly high right now. Please be safe! Distance and stay home if you are ill."

Peaches, known for having the best French fries and Ranch dressing in town, ended their post with some advice for the rest of the community:

"Please take all of this seriously. Stay home, distance, and do everything you can to not spread this thing."

In the early days of COVID, many Casper businesses had to altar their way of doing business. Peaches was one of those restaurants.

When the coronavirus first appeared, Peaches was one of the first restaurants to close down their lobby. Luckily, the restaurant also has a drive-thru, which has been their saving grace throughout this time period.

“We’ve been real steady, thankfully,” Douglass stated. “There have been ups and downs throughout the months, but our business has stayed pretty normal.”

This is something other fast-food restaurants can also attest to. Most have shut down their lobbies as well, instead focusing solely on drive-thru services. For juggernauts like McDonald’s or Wendy’s, this isn’t as big of a deal. It’s the smaller, locally-owned businesses that are taking the biggest hits and are having to reinvent themselves in the time of COVID.

“Our lobby is so small that in order for us to follow all the guidelines that the government was putting out, we would’ve only had a few tables,” Douglass said. “ So it just wasn’t really worth it. The trouble with [keeping our lobby open] is that you can’t let the customers do anything. You’ve got to do everything- get drinks, etc. It was a whole new situation for us. We probably would have had to hire more help to do less business, so it just didn’t make any sense.”

He continued, stating that “It would have been a lot tougher to survive this without the drive-thru, let’s put it that way.”

As of Friday, the Wyoming Department of Health reported 8,566 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Natrona County. There have been 162 COVID-related deaths in Natrona County as well.