Don DeWeese, owner of Gibson’s Donuts, spoke with Robin Walensky during “Wake Up Memphis” on KWAM The Mighty 990 about his business’s busy reopening on Friday and how they’ve been giving back during the pandemic.
Closed for around eight weeks, Gibson’s may have looked quiet on the outside, but the workers were still making hundreds of donuts for local hospitals during the quarantine.“We made 200 dozens Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and donated them to the hospitals here in Memphis,” DeWeese said.
They partnered with Kelly English, owner of Restaurant Iris and Second Line, who has also been donating food to nurses and doctors.
On Friday, Gibson’s Donuts opened up with a bang. At least four news stations were there to cover the event, and DeWeese said 43 hungry customers were lined up at 5 am.
Deweese said that he knows the virus isn’t going away completely, and he had to open up to ensure his employees could survive.To ensure proper safety, Gibson’s has someone constantly manning the door to prevent hundreds of hands touching it every day, and they have donut decals on the floor to display proper social distancing spacing.
“If I didn’t open back up, my employees cannot eat, pay their rent, pay their car note,” he said. “I can survive, but my employees cannot survive. I’m very very lucky and very blessed.”
