The owners of modern downtown diner Holy Roller also decided to close for the day.
Locals Bennu Coffee served cold brew coffee made with bottled water driven in from Elgin by an employee, and Houndstooth Coffee decided to “err on the side of caution” and closed its Austin stores for most of Monday.
The MLK location stayed open but didn’t serve coffee, and all three Austin stores are expected to be open Tuesday with water brought in from Dallas.
P. Terry’s also adapted by boiling water used to clean produce and potatoes, as well as wash employees’ hands, at its 13 Austin locations.
The restaurants boiled water and used bagged ice to cool it before washing food.
“The staff was more affected by the water disruption than our customers,” Terry said.
Other than offering only milkshakes and orange juice to drink, it was business as usual.” Sharon Mays, who owns healthy fast-casual salad-centric restaurant Baby Greens (1508 Anderson Lane), said she first heard about the notice from media reports Monday and received no direct notification from the city or Austin Water.
Her restaurant specializes in to-go orders, which means Baby Greens uses very few dishes, thus minimizing the need to wash dishes.
Despite providing customers with completely safe dining options, Mays said Baby Greens still had a very slow day, a woe echoed by other business owners around town, and only did about half the sales of a normal day.
“This is a time where local businesses need the customers to come out and support them.