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Mother's Day marks unofficial end of season for service industry

Almost hosts busiest brunch of year
Posted at 11:39 PM, May 08, 2022
and last updated 2022-05-08 23:39:09-04

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Every year Mother's Day meets Sunday Funday as the holiday is held the second Sunday of May.

"Yeah, I love having my kids around me and my son is here and my daughter is here, boyfriend is here. I'm happy," said Sandra Seetaram, a mother from Palm Beach County.

This year more families were able to travel, bringing children like Seetarams to Palm Beach for Mother's Day brunch at Almond.

"(We're doing) the things she likes to do, so anything that makes her happy, which is spending time with her family and being out to eat and drink and have a good time," said Amanda Seetaram, who is visiting from Atlanta.

While families enjoy quality time, staff at Almond have been all-hands-on-deck.

"We were pretty much packed from start to finish," said Lee Felty, a co-owner of Almond. "We had a lot of families come in. It was really nice seeing this multi-general Mother's Day celebration going on in the restaurant."

The farm-to-table restaurant claims 95% of its produce comes from a 10-miles radius, so the menu changes with what's being grown and cultivated.

For Almond, Mother's Day is its busiest brunch of the year.

"It's a holiday," said Felty. "We're all going to be busy. It's time to put our heads down, get to work, show people great experiences."

The restaurant opened before the pandemic but has been successful thanks to the community and their employees. It closed early this Mother's Day to give staff time to spend with their families.

"Half of the people working today are mothers themselves, so we got them bouquets of flowers and said, 'Listen, we're going to get through this day and then you can go home and see your kids and have your own special Mother's Day yourself,'" said Felty. "It's good to have a day where we can convene and have a really good time and just kind of appreciate the hard work mothers actually do."

The unofficial start of season for restaurants is Thanksgiving time. Almond plans to take the time to make updates and brainstorm its goals for next season.

"Happy Mother's Day," said Amanda Seetaram. "We appreciate them, love them for all they do."