His El Paisa Grill in West Valley City is impacted by a months-long road construction project on state State Route Route 201 where it crosses 3200 West along the border of West Valley City and Salt Lake City. 

The Utah Department of Transportation is currently replacing the bridge that carries the busy freeway over 3200 West in West Valley City. The $14- million project, which started in July, has closed 3200 West to allow for the demolition and reconstruction of two bridge decks carrying east and westbound traffic along the freeway and the on and off ramps at 3200 West. The blockage has made it harder for people to access nearby businesses like El Paisa at 2126 S. 3200 West just south of the construction zone. 

“We’re down 30% of our sales,” Orozco said. “It’s been a struggle.” 

Orozco said that even running radio and television ads has largely been for naught. Some potential customers are reluctant to endure the inconvenience of taking alternate routes to El Paisa, especially those north of S.R. 201 where concrete barriers put 3200 West out of commission under the freeway and require a detour to the east or west. “People would rather wait until this is over,” he said.

UDOT project manager David Cox said efforts have been made before and during the construction to let businesses know about the project and what steps the department is taking to mitigate the impact on them. 

To do that, UDOT hired X Factor Strategic Communications to conduct outreach including direct meetings with businesses and social media and email updates to keep them and the public informed about the status of construction and detours around the road work to get to surrounding merchants and other enterprises.

“We tried very early in the process to be conscious of those businesses that will be impacted by the project,” Cox said. For most of them, it’s a “tough pill to swallow,” he added. “Many of them understand it needs to be done.”

“We’ve tried to work with the chamber of commerce, with the cities to find other ways to drum up business, trying to be a resource where we can,” Cox explained. 

Back at El Paisa Grill, Orozco said that usually busy weekends have been especially hard hit with a reduction totaling tens of thousands of dollars in revenue each month during construction, but the entire week has seen fewer diners coming through the doors. 

He understands that a complete tear down and rebuild of an overpass on a busy freeway takes time. “They said five months. The weather (as of mid November) hasn’t been that bad. I just wish it were a little faster.” 

Before construction, El Paisa Grill had 40 employees to cover its daily hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. except for a 9 p.m. closing on Fridays and Saturdays. The slowdown in business has cut that to 30. “We’re limiting the hours of our staff,” Orozco said. “‘‘If you want to go and find a different job, there’s really nothing we can do about it. It’s your call,’’” he has told workers who don’t like the uncertainty of the situation. 

Orozco said the restaurant is trying to do more catering to fill in the revenue gaps, but with mixed results so far.

It’s a similar story next door at My Sugar’s Donut Shopp, which sells a variety of doughnuts and pastries and coffee to a mostly business clientele from the surrounding area. 

Manager Delvin Chhour, whose family owns the shop, said sales have shrunk by half since the road work began. “There’s not much we can do besides stay open and manage how much (product) we make. Sometimes it can be super busy or super slow.” Regular customers still come for their doughnuts and coffee in the morning, but the rest of the day until closing at 2 p.m. is uneven at best. 

Like his neighbor, El Paisa, most of My Sugar’s customers are coming from the south, which is the relatively unobstructed direction from which to reach the shop. 

Chhour said the UDOT outreach team has visited twice to inquire how business was going, but didn’t offer much more in the way of information or resources to navigate the construction period. 

He believes My Sugar’s will get through it. “I think so, but still business is down.” 

Jose Orozca is optimistic El Paisa will pull through the duration of the construction work.

“I have to be,” he said.