ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Lockdown orders are being lifted, but life is not returning to normal.
“There is still that concern when will people feel comfortable coming in groups and when will we have business back to normal,” says Janet Franklin, the owner of the Gymboree of Waterford.
Franklin needs to pay rent on her location. However, it’s been more than a month since she’s held a class and as of now she doesn’t know when she will.
For small businesses like Gymboree of Waterford, there are state and federal loans to get through a few months, but that’s only for a few months. The loans are designed to keep people on payroll, but now there is no business and no indication when there will be a new normal.
“For a small business like us, I don’t want to go into a ton of debt to save it for a year from now we start to really come back,” says Franklin.
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“we’ve been here for about 16 years and we don’t plan to go anywhere so we’re trying to work with the landlord as much as possible and see about getting them paid and let them know that we’ve been closed and revenue is not coming in the door,” says Frank Echevarria of Dexter’s in Lake Mary.
Dexter’s will open on Friday, but only at 25% capacity, not enough to be profitable.
“Our overhead has not gone down to 25 percent, our expenses have not gone down, we’re not profitable at 25-percent,” says Owner Stephen Facella.
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Annalists estimate one third of rent payments will be late and another third won’t be made at all.
There is a push to create a $160 billion fund to help independent restaurants which may not have the same flexibility as larger, chain restaurants.
“The restaurants we love are hurting and are on the brink of extinction,” said José Andrés, part of the Independent Restaurant Coalition leadership team. “Our industry has faced the steepest job losses of any industry during the COVID-19 Crisis, but have received no direct aid from Congress.”
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The dilemma for restaurant owners is daunting: Many are asking if they can afford to open at 25%, and can they afford not to.
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