ORLANDO, Fla. — While cooking a family meal together can be the preferred way to celebrate the holiday season for some people, others opt for heading out the door to enjoy a meal at a restaurant without the stress of having to stay in the kitchen.

What You Need To Know

  • With many restaurants closed on Christmas, finding a place to sit down and eat might become a challenge for many families looking forward to celebrating the holiday 

  • Sofrito Latin Cafe in Orlando offers traditional Latin soul food, from rice and beans, to churrasco and staple dishes from Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina and Colombia

  • The family-owned business decided to stay open for business on Dec. 25 and take advantage of the economic opportunity it presents 

  • As the night came and customers kept the tables full, the restaurant manager said revenue in a day is about 40% - 50% higher than normal

But with many restaurants closed on Christmas, finding a place to sit down and eat might become a challenge. For a small family business like Sofrito Latin Café, being open on Christmas night offers an opportunity to increase revenue and serve people who want to have that hot meal without cooking.

“Today was very busy, being that we are one of the few restaurants that are open and other people are coming and they know they want good food, good service. And I believe it’s a very nice time with family on Christmas day,” Sofrito’s Manager Darwin Bravo said.

Bravo has been in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years and says for a business to open on Christmas day presents a big opportunity.

“It's incredible to see people coming every day and telling us, 'Hey, we just came for you. We don't want to spend time at home at this point. We spend too much time at home.' But you want to enjoy our family and we have family meals here,” Bravo said.  

As he welcomes customers in, back in the kitchen orders have been on fire throughout the day.

“Very busy, very busy. It's very active, let me put it that way. It's a good part of our business, and we are really happy that we've done a provide that service to our customers,” he said. 

Bravo said a big part of the business has been through delivery app orders.

"We take DoorDash, we take UberEats, and we have our own Sofrito website, which has our online takeout orders basically," he said.

The restaurant offers traditional Latin soul food, from rice and beans, to churrasco and staple dishes from Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina and Colombia. Bravo says being open in Christmas takes a lot of planning ahead of time to make sure they have enough supplies to meet the demand.

“Our freezers are full, every area is full of food because it's not only Christmas now, but New Year’s Eve also is coming, so we need to be prepared,” Bravo said.

As the night came and customers kept the tables full, Bravo said their revenue in a day like today is about 40% - 50% higher than normal.

“We want to provide a service to our customers, to our regulars. And they always are asking, are you going to be open? We see the demand and we see that we can capitalize with high demand, basically. And we are doing that not only with the food but also with our heart, because we with everything we do here, we do even with our heart,” Bravo said.

Bravo says they had more than 430 orders at the restaurant, over 1,000 dishes prepared, and about 280 online orders, making it one of their best nights of the year.