Local bar/restaurant owner reacts to new bill passed by Senate loosening COVID-19 rules

Johnstown, Pa. (WJAC) — Tulunes "Living the Dream" Bar and Grill in Johnstown was living the dream until COVID-19 hit.

The bar/restaurant went from take out only, to 25% capacity, and now to 50% capacity -- but they still don't have their bar back.

Danielle Penna, Co-Owner of Tulunes "Living the Dream" Bar and Grill says the bar service is very important to their business.

"Sometimes in Johnstown, people like to come out after a football game and just have a drink, not necessarily a meal,” she says.

A new bill could change that.

Tuesday, the Republican-Controlled Senate voted 43 to 6 to loosen Governor Wolf's COVID-19 restrictions on Pennsylvania’s bars and restaurants.

This includes ending the requirement that customers must buy food in order to buy alcohol, and allows customers to be served drinks at the bar.

Danielle says she's noticed a decrease in people just coming in and hanging out for the night because of the rule.

"Whenever you have to involve food, it limits the people that want to come in, or even go out. They're just like, ‘oh, might as well go home then, because we have to order food if we have any kind of alcohol,’” she says.

This bill needs another round of approval from the house before going to Governor Wolf.

For now, Danielle says she's so grateful to her community for supporting them along the way.

"We've been really supported by them, so we're very grateful for that. However, we would love to get back to full capacity and be able to run our restaurant like we did the first few months,” she says.

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