NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Imagine standing in front of a pizza oven when temperatures are well over 90 degrees outside. The heat can be tough on restaurant workers, especially those in the kitchen or waiting tables outside.
The staff at Zuppardi’s in West Haven work hard to serve the Friday night crowd.
“The phone rings nonstop. Sometimes we go up to a two-hour wait. We don’t like having a two-hour wait because we know people are getting out of work and they want to have their dinner,” said the owner, Lori Zuppardi.
With a full staff serving pies, the kitchen heat sometimes gets intense. The oven is set to 520-550 degrees.
“It gets pretty hot. We have two air conditioners running back there at all times, but the ovens kind of work against the air conditioners. Obviously, we try and keep the oven doors closed as much as possible because we don’t want to change the temperature to the inside of the ovens,” she said.
Food truck workers on Long Wharf Drive in New Haven are feeling the heat too. Inside a truck, it can get as hot as 120 degrees. Customers still lined up to get dinner in the heat.
Although it wasn’t much cooler outside, customers lined up to get dinner.
“It is hot but it’s nice by the water, You get to catch the breeze. Try to be outside as much as you can during the summer,” said Chris Bruton from Guilford.
https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/restaurant-workers-keeping-cool-in-the-heat-wave/