Susan Benoikken sits in the empty, sunny dining room of Medina Oven & Bar in Dallas. It’s been a little over a year since she took over the restaurant, and months of struggle and grief show themselves in her rounded shoulders and melancholy eyes.
Across from her sits her accountant surrounded by stacks of bills and receipts. The numbers don’t look good, he says. While the restaurant is open for dine-in, patio seating and takeout, customers are sporadic. Sales are still too slow to keep up with the costs of running the restaurant, and while operating with a skeleton crew and getting a break on rent from the landlord have helped, it’s not enough to pull her business off a dangerous ledge one thousands of restaurants are teetering on as the pandemic continues to ravage the industry.