Berkeley, California (cron) — Berkeley businesses are trying to stay open after the recent storms. Deli Rama lost electricity for several days and ruined thousands of pounds of meat.
The owner tells KRON4 they are trying to do everything they can to stay in business. They want their customers to remain patient and cooperative.
People walked up to the front of the deli only to find a sign telling people there was no pastrami as they had no power.
All of Delilama’s inventory was destroyed after a power outage lasting more than three days.
Co-owners Cash Kallis and Anahita Kan examined 2,000 pounds worth of meat. It’s literally a ton of beef that has to be thrown away.
The Berkeley business experienced a power outage during Tuesday afternoon’s storm and had no way to conserve inventory. Dry ice without a generator is dangerous, and moving it is out of the question.
“Anytime you transport large amounts of meat, you pose a health risk,” Kallis said.
Meat needs to be kept at a certain temperature, which is difficult to maintain in transit, and even harder to find a place to carry a 500-pound barrel full of meat and water. So the owner sat and waited, hoping the power would come back on.
“PG&E keeps sending out a lot of updates like the estimated recovery time is this or this, and it keeps getting longer each time,” Cann says.
“It’s been a real emotional roller coaster,” Kallis said.
Delirama just opened in August.
“We’re a small business and haven’t paid ourselves yet. We’re working to build our brand and stick with this community,” said Caris.
Owners are unsure if this will survive the storm.
“This is over $20,000 worth of inventory, with over $100,000 in revenue,” says Caris.
By the time power was restored on Friday, it was too late to save the pastrami. go fund me Help cover some of their losses.
But they still have to clean the entire facility, repair the storm-damaged freezer, and resume salting.
Caris estimates it could take about a month to get back to business.
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“We will do our best to get through this because we want to be here. We love our neighborhood and we love our customer base. Our regular customers are like family to us.” It’s a thing,” Kallis said.
The owners tell me they might do a pop-up to cover the bill.
