It's never easy to launch a new food business. You need a hip location, stylish furnishings and dinnerware, a well-equipped kitchen, a dynamite menu, a skilled staff. You need money—lots and lots of money—and advertising and influencers on social media.
But add a deadly pandemic to the picture, and things can get pretty dicey. Couple the threat of illness with government stay-at-home orders, followed by months of fear and reticence by your customers and team members to return. Then add a lack of money. Or the glimmer of government money that must be applied for and then waited upon. And then alter all your plans to include mandated social distancing and cleaning requirements.