Bowling alley serves curbside snacks to boost income during pandemic

GAUTIER, Miss. (WLOX) - A Gautier bowling alley is now offering its most popular menu items through curbside service to stay in business. The new curbside meal service will bring Spanish Trail Lanes its first source of income since the end of March.

“People have been missing our food, but also just to generate a little revenue in the building so hopefully we can bring back a few more employees to help their families as well,” said co-owner Rachel Holbert.

Holbert said she had to lay off most of her staff as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Since then we have laid off 11 of our 13 employees. We do keep two with us to do maintenance on the building," she said. “It is a lot of sacrifices to make at this time but it is what we have to remain open, even if we are not open to the public.”

To save on utilities, Spanish Trail Lanes suspended its cable and waste management pickup while business is down. Holbert noted that the free-time has allowed her to tend to larger projects. She’s been able to catch up on paperwork, hire a crew to do a deep clean of the bowling alley, and do a complete breakdown and repair of all the pin machines.

And she’s preparing the space for safe social distancing when it reopens.

“Our building is 30,000 square feet. It’s very easy to put some people in a lane, skip a lane or two, and create a distance of 6 to 10 feet between lanes,” said Holbert. “We are hoping that by the end of May we will be allowed to reopen.”

Spanish Trail Lanes’ curbside meal service will operate on Monday through Friday from 11:30am to 6:30 pm.