Eddie McBride Talks Bars Reopening and COVID-19 Seminars
Tuesday on KFYO Mornings with Dave King and Matt Martin, The President and CEO of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce Eddie McBride joined Dave and Matt to talk about last week's BBQ competition, bars being reopened soon and what impact that will have, local bond elections, COVID-19 seminars to help out local businesses, the new announcements for the Chamber's programs in 2021, and more.
McBride started the discussion by talking about the BBQ competition that occurred last Thursday. Normally, the BBQ Cook Off is a big event hosted by the Chamber in Lubbock every year, but due to the ongoing pandemic, they had to make it a private event this year. Eddie explained that everyone still had a good time, and the cooking teams worked hard to make BBQ that competed in six categories, but that overall they didn't want to make a big deal out of it since it wasn't open to the public. McBride went on to say that he knows that there are cooking teams who want to come back next year, but for now, it was "the little BBQ that could."
Another big topic around Texas right now is the news that bars are going to be able to be reopened starting tomorrow, October 14th, at 50% capacity. McBride said that this is good, since bars have been hurt pretty badly, especially the ones that chose to or were not able to convert to restaurants. As far as the 50% capacity limit, Eddie said, "50% occupancy is better than no occupancy, but it is still awful difficult to really bring in enough money to make ends meet as far as paying the rent and paying the staff and everything." Additionally, Eddie talked about how all wineries, distilleries, and breweries will allow sampling now, but that most of the time you will have to be seated and social distancing.
Eddie was also asked what else they have going on at the Chamber, as well as what is coming up. He explained that they are currently continuing to have their COVID-19 seminars to help out local businesses, including topics such as how HR will change during and after the pandemic, the "new norm" of childcare, the status of PPP loans, and what to expect after the pandemic as far as hiring goes. The Chamber has also announced what they have coming up, including the new 20 Under 40 announcements, as well as the 2021 Local Leadership classes. All seminars can be taken virtually, and all this info can be found at lubbockchamber.com.
Find more info at Lubbockchamber.com and watch the full interview with Eddie McBride in the video above.
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