TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — As Tom Kruszewski looks out at the amount of customers he sees at his restaurant Risky Business, he’s not seeing as many as the first few months of the year.
When he picks up the phone, he knows it’s an opportunity to make some money during a slow summer season.
“There’s a drop off for sure…and we kind of expect it,” he said.
After being open for about 26 years, he cashes in on sales at the beginning of the year so he can prepare for having less customers during the summer.
“Summertime you’re relying on what you did those first four months to carry you through,” he said.
Some of the customers that carry him through part of the year from November to May are “snow birds” that are only in Arizona for part of the year.
However, during the summer he has to rely on his regulars to get him through, which means he’s losing up to 20 percent in sales.
“We’re not drowning but we’re floating through,” he said.
Also keeping him afloat is the change in weather last week when it rained, which he said could be why more people stopped by his business.
However, he said this summer is still burning through his profits.
“These past two have probably been harder than pre-COVID,” he said.
In order to attract more customers, he’s using social media to advertise his business and take pictures of their meals.
“It’s extremely challenging for smaller businesses and local, so eat local,” he said.
However, his business is not the only one in the Foothills that has had to go through a slower season because of the heat.
The DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun is also seeing less people come in. Their executive director Lance Laber is seeing more empty rooms and less names checking into their guest book.
“This summer is about the same. It’s always been slow here in the summer,” Labor said.
While they can get up to 100 people a day during the winter months, they’re only seeing a fraction of those people from May to September.
“Well we have bills to pay, we have payroll, we have a lot of things that we pay for,” Laber said about the impact on his business.
However, people like Bill and Susan Shipp, who visited the gallery on Monday, said supporting local businesses is important because they’re competing against big corporations.
“We always like supporting as many businesses as we can because they’re probably hit harder,” Bill Shipp said.
Laber said it’s locals that are going to get them through such a tough time, especially people like the Shipp family who just moved from Texas.
“We’re hoping to get more local support especially for people who are new to Tucson,” Laber said.
