Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix traffic either helps or hurts nearby businesses
MIAMI GARDENS — As Formula 1 comes to Miami Gardens, Lorna's Caribbean and American Grill breaks out its best soup formula.
"We only serve it on Saturdays," Owner Matari Bodei said. "Conch soup. Talk of the town"
Bodie says that even though 600,000 people are expected to crowd the area, customers were willing to beat the traffic for some soup.
"I got about 50 orders," Bodei said.
Bodie says that's enough to boost the business.
"It helps," Bodei said. "It boosts us up by about 20%."
Classy Girl Beauty Supply is just next door to Lorna's. Owner Hassan Sam says Saturdays are usually his busiest days, but he adds he always loses thousands of dollars in sales whenever Formula 1 is in town.
"Our customer,s they go to a different business," Sam said. "Because they can't come over here because of the traffic."
Back over at Lorna's, Junior Correa is getting the soup to go so that he can watch Formula 1 at home.
"We've been hunting it for the whole week," Correa said. "We've been craving this for a while".
Bodie says being across the street from the race can attract people in before during and after the event.
"Anything that happens at the stadium, we benefit off of," Bodie said.