Whether it be downsizing employees, or going as far as to taking out a bank loan, local small businesses are fighting to keep their restaurant doors open. Nuestro Mexican Grill and Broken Yolk Café are just two local restaurants that struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nuestro went from having 20 employees, down to just three. And Executive Chef, Josè Sanchez, was overseeing the entire restaurant on Tuesday. From the to go orders, the phone calls, to the cooking itself, Sanchez says it’s his faith that keeps him going. “You have to keep going. I mean hard times are going to come to everyone at some point.” He adds, “So in this moment you have to show how hard are you willing to go?
He says his family's business used to see close to 300 people a day, but now days only about 10-15 people on average. Sanchez says, “We have to be stricter with a lot of things when we come back. One reason being because, I don’t think it's going to be the same sales. This situation is just unique in that way.” He says the hardest part is seeing everyone without a job. “What is hard for me is seeing everyone. I mean they want to work, but I mean how do we do it?”
And over at Broken Yolk, Owner James Bailey, says he’s also struggling to keep his business afloat. “We had to borrow extra funds from other assets or personal loans just to keep the doors open.” Bailey says his business is out about 90%. And he was even forced to close Broken Yolk’s other location. He says, “the east store is completely shut down. We tried doing the take-outs over there and it just wasn’t sustainable. We couldn't even keep the doors open doing that.”
He says his biggest struggle through all of this, is not being able to do anything about it. “Our hands are tied. This virus doesn’t play favorites with anybody. Were all in the same boat, I mean it’s disheartening. But what do you do?
Both of these local restaurants have been open about five years. Broken Yolk will be open for to go’s only every day from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. And Nuestros will also be open every day for all to-go orders from 11:30 a.m. -7 p.m.
