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Constant Rain Playing Havoc With Local Summer Businesses

LONG BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Most weekends this summer have been punctuated with precipitation, vast amounts of rain that have ruined plans.

And as CBS2's Clark Fouraker reported Sunday, it has also dampened profits for business that rely on the summer rush.

No matter if it's steamy hot or rainy cold, Marc Derkatch's Neapolitan pizza food truck can't keep up with the weather.

"I hope to sell 50 pies today. I hope. I mean that's just going to break us even for the day," Derkatch said, adding when asked how many he would regularly sell, "One hundred fifty pies."

His truck is parked among planted palms and clean picnic tables next to the boardwalk in Long Beach. The ambiance and even offering delivery via Uber Eats is no match for Mother Nature.

"We can't control the weather. Everyone thinks when we have a good day, wow, these guys are doing great. Yeah, one or two days we do great, but that doesn't cover the bills," Derkatch said.

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Many of the businesses here work with a reduced staff, if they even open at all. They said they'll keep working at the beach until September, but acknowledge after Labor Day they expect business to slow even more.

"I haven't been at the beach in three weeks. Every time I want to go it rains, and we were just going to get waffles and ice cream and they're closed," Little Neck, Queens, resident Bonnie Vigoda said.

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In between the heat and rain, exercisers tried to enjoy the outdoors on the boardwalk.

"It has been tough. A little too hot, not that cool, but at least it's not raining," said Cathy O'Sullivan of Rockville Centre.

Riptides bar has seen sales stumble, so has Cultured Yogurt and Waffle.

"Sometimes we have to shut down for an hour or two because it's downpour raining. It's unpredictable, which makes business incredibly hard," one worker said.

If it's too hot, people don't come out. If it rains, the boardwalk goes bare. Shops and restaurants here say that's the tricky business of summer.

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