MAUMEE, OH (WTOL) - Mama C's reopened Monday following the Norovirus outbreak that affected more than 300 people.
The doughnut shop got the green light to reopen following a deep clean that ended Friday. As ensure it was clean, St. Luke's Hospital brought in their Germenator for another cleaning.
The robot uses UV rays to kill germs. Normally, hospitals use the machine to clean rooms after patients leave.
"Just to give them the ease of knowing that we did what we could and let the people in the community know that we did the best we could and so come on back," said Jim Joldrichsen of St. Luke's.
Meanwhile, the shop received a large amount of community support for the landmark.
"It feels so great, I can sleep. I don't have to feel so bad for all of the customers that get sick, but I feel great now," said Chandar "Mama C" Chao they're all supporting me and want me to be open and back to business."
The customers say they feel comfortable with the restaurant, knowing it was a food-borne illness and not an environmental issue. Most importantly, they are happy to be back.
"They're good people," said customer Stanley Brion. "They're trying to run a business. They do a pretty good job of it because they get pretty busy."
"We need business in Maumee," added customer Robert Serna. "We need the economy and the money to stay here in this town, so it's great."
For Mama C herself, she said the outpouring of support keeps her going.
"They say, 'Don't worry, usually on the road you have a little bump, but you get up and you move on, we are all supporting you, we love you, and we won't go anywhere, we will be back.' So it's great," Chandar said.
Mama C said she's grateful for St. Luke's and willing to take whatever steps to make sure this doesn't happen again
The grand reopening lasted until 7 p.m.
