California restaurant owner cited for keeping business open despite coronavirus restrictions
‘Nick The Greek’ owner Anton Van Happen discusses his heated exchange with state health inspectors on ‘Outnumbered Overtime.’
A California restaurant owner cited for keeping his business open in violation of a state coronavirus lockdown joined Fox News Wednesday to discuss the viral video of his confrontation with health inspectors.
"Well, I am still waiting to see what is going to happen," Anton Van Happen told "Outnumbered Overtime". "It is really alarming and not fair that I am following the rules and doing what they want me to do, [and] just because I’ve protested and put my tables outside, which is in my right to do, for two to three hours last evening, they gave me a restaurant closure notice."
In the video, shared by a reporter from The Daily Caller Van Happen asks public health inspectors, "Are you going to pay my rent?"
Later in the video, he adds: "I followed the rules, I continue to follow the rules and you guys still time after time are giving me citations, telling me I have to close my business – what about my employees?"
Earlier this month, the city of Ventura, Calif., where Van Happen's Nick the Greek Souvlaki and Gyro House restaurant is located, issued a notice to restaurants saying they can "stay open for takeout and delivery, but they have to shut down both indoor and outdoor dining" as coronavirus cases across the state continue to rise.
Van Happen called it "extremely unfair" that restaurants cannot conduct business outside under California's stay-at-home order while other businesses are able to do so.
"I believe that if it is legal to go out on a golf course with a group of people and golf, but if you eat that spreads out more," he said. "I mean, it makes zero sense, and is not scientifically proven."
Van Happen insisted Wednesday that restaurant owners have abided by the health guidelines "since day one."
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"We have worn masks. We have listened to everything they tell us to do," he said, "and now, all of a sudden, it is like we are getting punished for it."
"The real thing is over the summer, people were getting money weekly from the government, companies were getting Paycheck Protection Program loans. That’s why everything was calm and went smooth and fine," he pointed out. "Now, they are shutting everything down without giving people money, which makes no sense, because, like I say in my video, who is going to pay for my rent and my employees? Who will pay for all the expenses? It makes no sense."
FOX Business' Greg Norman contributed to this report.
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