{"id":1319059,"date":"2020-03-24T16:56:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T22:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=994982"},"modified":"2020-03-24T16:56:32","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T22:56:32","slug":"like-most-restaurants-wingnutz-bar-and-grill-is-forging-a-new-identity-in-the-face-of-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/photos\/like-most-restaurants-wingnutz-bar-and-grill-is-forging-a-new-identity-in-the-face-of-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Like most restaurants, WingNutz Bar and Grill is forging a new identity in the face of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LEFT: Owner Grady Hazelton takes orders over the phone, as Sam Woolston writes messages on to-go boxes thanking each customer for their loyalty during uncertain times. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
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Grady Hazelton hustles to his truck to make another delivery Saturday. Deliveries are a first for WingNutz as they navigate the new normal in the food business. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
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With last week\u2019s order from Gov. Jared Polis to shut down all dine-in restaurants, many local establishments have been sent reeling.  <\/p>\n

For WingNutz Bar and Grill owner Grady Hazelton, it has been a kick in the gut, but he knows that everyone is in the same situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never done delivery before, but now we are doing delivery and take-out. We changed our hours up a little bit so we can operate with less staff,\u201d Hazelton said.<\/p>\n

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Sam Woolston, one of the 8 full time employees being kept on during the dine-in closure, makes cookies to hand out to customers to show appreciation for their loyalty. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
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That is one of the most unfortunate parts about it for Hazelton \u2014 with business down 50-60% from normal he had to let all his part-time staff go for the time being.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people we just had to say we will see you when this all over,\u201d Hazelton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to take care of everybody and take care of our group, but there is only so much we can do,\u201d<\/p>\n

Running a staff of 8-10 currently, Hazelton is splitting the hours they are open between the regular fulltime employees, which he said is about half of what they are used to.<\/p>\n

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Hazelton greets a customer picking up an order at the new walk-up window. When Hazelton opened WingNutz nearly 15 years ago he covered up the window. The building was originally home to a drive through fast food restaurant.(Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
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Hazelton opened WingNutz back in 2005, and has had a loyal following for nearly a decade-and-a-half now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had employees and customers that have been here since we opened,\u201d Hazelton said.<\/p>\n

With last week\u2019s announcement, Hazelton uncovered the old drive-up window that was used by the previous owners of the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the sudden it came in handy,\u2019 Hazelton said.<\/p>\n

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Practicing social distancing Jordan Johnson, and Robert Campbell wait for their food orders Saturday outside WingNutz Bar and Grill in Rifle. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)  <\/strong>
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Hazelton said he had a feeling that this was coming, and had been prepared for the worst by only ordering 25 percent of his usual food orders in case a full shut down comes from the state.<\/p>\n

Working with his customers on whatever they feel confortable with, Hazelton has plenty of options for them, whether it is coming inside the restaurant to pick-up their order, walking it out to them, using the window or delivery.<\/p>\n

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A customer walks into WingNutz to pick-up an order. Hazelton said he is trying to make things convenient to his customers as possible with the new rules of no dining-in. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
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\u201cWe\u2019ve always taken it serious, making sure we wash and sanitize our hands, now we are just doubling up,\u201d Hazelton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going to do what we can as long as they let us, and long as we feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hazelton and Woolston help customers during the lunch hour at WingNutz Bar and Grill. Hazelton said that business is down around 50-60 percent since the state wide closure. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
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kmills@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEFT: Owner Grady Hazelton takes orders over the phone, as Sam Woolston writes messages on to-go boxes thanking each customer for their loyalty during uncertain times. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent) Buy Photo Grady Hazelton hustles to his truck to make another delivery Saturday. Deliveries are a first for WingNutz as they navigate the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news","7":"category-photos"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-10 20:13:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}