Hearing puts pressure on eateries to feed masses

They stocked extra food and called in additional cooks and waiters and delivery drivers. The circus was in town, and restaurant owners near the Regional Justice Center didn't want to miss the chance to feed all the clowns and carnival barkers.

At the Courthouse Bar & Grill, owner Chris Lightman scheduled three extra employees and increased his food order to handle the 30 percent bump in business he expects from the O.J. Simpson preliminary hearing under way across the street.

Along with the usual crop of lawyers and courthouse employees that fills his restaurant at lunchtime, Lightman said a lot of members of the media are wandering in during breaks in the hearing.

"A lot of people in the morning are ordering O.J., so we've had to triple our orange juice order," he said.

Others are dropping by to check out -- and in some cases, film -- the restaurant's cartoonish mural depicting Simpson's 1995 murder trial.

Those who come in at the height of the lunch rush can expect to wait about 45 minutes for a table, instead of the usual 15, Lightman said.

Also anticipating lunchtime throngs, the Quiznos Sub shop just east of the courthouse brought in extra bread, cookies and potato chips. They doubled their usual orders of tomatoes and romaine lettuce.

All told, owner Edward Gechas said he upped food supplies by about 25 percent.

The business also increased its delivery staff and stocked up on small bills and rolls of coins to handle the expected influx of customers with 20-dollar bills.

The one thing they couldn't get was orange juice, Gechas said. Their supplier brought them apple juice instead.

"With an event like this, you really don't know what to expect," said Gechas, who bought the franchise with his wife in August. "Basically, this is the preliminary hearing, so this is preliminary ordering. When they real trial starts, we'll know what to expect."

The receipts have been strong so far.

Even before the lunch rush Thursday, Gechas said his sandwich shop already had seen more business than it did during Simpson's chaotic arraignment in September.

Catering orders have been especially strong, he said, thanks to the hungry news crews manning about a dozen satellite trucks parked just south of the courthouse.

Strange as it may sound, Gechas said he owes O.J. Simpson a debt of gratitude.

"Everyone wants to put him in jail. I say keep him around; he's good for business," Gechas said.

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0350.