It has been a rough year for Silvio Vitiello, owner of Pocono Brewery Company.
His restaurant in Swiftwater and his taproom location in Whitehall have taken heavy hits from the COVID-19 pandemic, suffering from long-stretch closures, spur-of-the-moment regulations from the state government, and slow-moving assistance.
“We are 35% to 37% in the red from the previous year, and that’s not counting the two months closed, because it wouldn’t be fair. So, it’s a lot more than that,” Vitiello said, estimating that, in all, his restaurants lost half their business for the year.
Vitiello isn’t alone. In fact, if anything, he s among the majority of restaurateurs in the commonwealth.