Castle Rock restaurant reopens in defiance of statewide public health order

A Castle Rock restaurant saw big crowds Sunday when it fully reopened for Mother’s Day in open defiance of the statewide public health order that limits restaurants to takeout and delivery services.

Customers packed C&C Coffee and Kitchen on Trail Boss Drive on Sunday, filling the restaurant’s tables, its patio and forming a line out the door for dine-in service.

“It was unbelievable to me,” said Nick Whitehill, who’d ordered food for what he thought would be curbside pickup Sunday.

Whitehill said he was surprised to see the large crowd when he arrived. Wearing a mask, he went inside to try to pick up his order, which he’d already paid for, but left right away, without his food, after realizing that none of the staff were wearing masks and no one inside was practicing social distancing, he said.

While Douglas County has not required its residents to wear masks inside businesses, Gov. Jared Polis has recommended widespread use of cloth facial coverings, and ordered the state’s essential employees — including grocery store clerks and restaurant workers — to wear masks while interacting with the public.

Photos and video shared on social media of the crowds inside C&C Coffee and Kitchen on Sunday showed almost nobody wearing masks.

Whitehill said he posted photos of the crowd to Twitter to warn others not to go to the restaurant and to “shame” the eatery, he said.

“I wasn’t even going to eat the food even if I had gotten it,” he said. “I walked in, took the picture and turned right around.”

Whitehill said he also filed a formal complaint with the Tri-County Health Department, which did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday.

C&C Coffee and Kitchen owner April Arellano also did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday, but a Twitter account for the restaurant said it was reopening to stand “for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado!!”

Arellano also wrote on Facebook that she “would go out of business if I don’t do something,” and said that “if I lose the business at least I’m fighting.”

“We are so behind,” she said in a comment on her post. “We have complied for two months. We cannot make it on $200/day sales when 2 staff cost me $250 not counting, food, cost, utilities and rent.”

On Sunday, Arellano posted a brief live video on her Facebook page showing the crowd in the restaurant.

“So much for some of those people saying nobody would show up,” she said in the video. “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the support, guys. I got to get back to work.”

A spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said no one was available Sunday to discuss the restaurant’s reopening or what might be done about it, but said violating the state public health order is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $1,000 or up to a year in jail.

Authorities also have said restaurants could have their licenses revoked for violating the order. Everyone in the state is required to follow the statewide public health order that created guidelines for how businesses can reopen as Colorado enters the “safer-at-home” phase of the state’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Under that order, restaurants, cafes, bars and coffee shops cannot offer dine-in services until at least May 26, but can fill orders for delivery and takeout as long as they follow social-distancing protocols. Gov. Jared Polis on Friday said he’d like to see Colorado’s restaurants reopen by month’s end — if not before Memorial Day.

Tri-County Health Department officials shut down Waters Edge Winery in Centennial on Thursday because the restaurant was allowing customers to sit at tables on the patio and was ignoring social-distancing measures, according to the health department. The restaurant reopened Friday for takeout and delivery services after the owner agreed to follow all public health orders.

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