It was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside on Monday as Bob Thompson looked out at the large semitruck trailer in the parking lot of his business, Midway Deli, which sits amid tree-lined neighborhoods.
Thompson watched workers unload boxes of food that had been kept cool in the trailer, carrying them back into the restaurant’s refrigerators. Power had been out at the restaurant for about 38 hours — from around 10 p.m. Saturday to noon on Monday.
After severe storms and nearly 90 mph winds shook Norman on the night of the Fourth of July, much of the city faced downed trees, scattered debris and power outages.
Thompson said Midway Deli, located at the intersection of Chautauqua Avenue and West Eufaula Street, was fortunate to receive a trailer from its food service company to preserve a majority of the restaurant's stock.
“By the time that we discovered that the electricity had gone down, we were still in good shape in terms of our temperatures, and the truck got here quickly enough that we could empty all of that out and put it on the refrigerated truck,” Thompson said.
Thompson shared the trailer with Richard Haas and his wife Kate Haas, owners of The Earth Cafe and Deli, located two streets south of Midway Deli.
‘Walked the same path’
Like Thompson, Haas was working to preserve his business’s food. Haas said he decided to reach out to Thompson after driving by Midway Deli and noticing the trailer in the parking lot.
“I tried to save as much (food) as I could. I’m very grateful Bob … had a big refrigerated trailer and he let me stash some stuff over there,” Haas said. “I’ve got coolers with stuff in it but (I’ll) definitely have some loss. I’m gonna have to throw out a good amount of prepped stuff and start from scratch.”
Thompson said he knows the Haas family from the local business community.
“I think we have walked the same path for many years. I’ve been here for 40-plus years and when I started out it was a grocery store and meat market here at the Midway, and of course The Earth was an all-natural grocery store and we sort of walked parallel paths, …” Thompson said.
“So when Richard called and asked, he said, ‘That looks like a pretty big truck, you got any extra room?’ So it’s easy to say yes … You really don't want to sit on it, you really want to share it to the extent that you can.”
‘A generous community’
Like Midway Deli, The Earth Cafe and Deli lost power Saturday night and regained it Monday. Not only did the Haases work to preserve food, they also faced downed trees near the building.
Haas said the effects of weather on his business are something he’s grown accustomed to.
“Being in Oklahoma, we've been doing this over 20 years, so we've gone through multiple ice storms, we've been without power for five days, so unfortunately it is part of owning a business in Oklahoma and dealing with the erratic weather,” Haas said.
In a Sunday Facebook post, The Moon Sushi and Asian Bistro on East Main Street wrote it was facing nearly $10,000 worth of food loss due to power outages. The restaurant’s GoFundMe raised over twice its goal of $5,000, collecting $11,725 at the time of publication. In a Monday post, the restaurant expressed gratitude for donors, writing the support made up for lost inventory.
“We promise to repay this amazing gesture of love everyday in what we do and who we are,” the restaurant wrote. “We promise to keep getting better for each other and for this incredible community.”
Thompson spoke about having both loyal student and resident customers, noting his business has operated since 1926, with Thompson taking over in 1985.
“Norman lives sort of on the heartbeat of the campus. We breathe in and breathe out with the campus community. Now I was fortunate enough to have had a very solid base that we developed over the years before actually the student body found us, …” Thompson said. “It’s kind of an interesting dynamic that when the students leave, the locals show up, but we have locals all the time.”
Thompson said many in the community called Midway Deli after the storms and offered support.
“It’s a generous community that we live in, and we already knew that. We wouldn’t have survived many of the things we’ve gone through without the help of the community,” Thompson said.
While Haas spoke about community support, the restaurant’s phone rang.
“There's been a lot of chatter on social media about supporting local businesses and about the impact of the storm on local businesses, and we have a very loyal clientele, so I feel confident that they’ll be excited,” Haas said. “Obviously the power just came on, the phone is already ringing, so yeah, I feel very optimistic.”
‘Stop and reflect’
“We had a big tree out front that fell in front of the front door, and luckily I've got some good friends that are tree guys and they helped me get rid of that,” Haas said. “And then we had one big tree at the corner fall and block the exit drive, and luckily we got that taken care of really fast.”
Haas said he felt fortunate none of the trees behind the cafe fell and affected nearby power lines.
Both Midway Deli and The Earth Cafe reopened Tuesday morning.
Thompson praised the crews clearing debris and fixing power lines in his neighborhood, acknowledging their speed and effort.
He said he left the restaurant around 8 p.m. Sunday, not expecting to have power at all on Monday because the neighborhood needed a new utility pole. When he got to Midway Deli at 9 a.m. Monday, crews were already putting up a new pole.
“These men and women that are doing this storm damage recovery for us from the utility companies, they’re tireless … ,” Thompson said. “It’s interesting for us to have to stop and reflect on how much we depend on these folks. It’s a good, humbling experience.”
This story was edited by Reagan Rozzi. Larkin Bock and Tori Pham copy edited this story.