Omelets alongside tortas and Polish sausages, pink lemonade next to agua fresca de pepino, Valentina hot sauce next to Heinz ketchup. At Park View Diner in Pilsen, owner Martha Solis and her son Nelson Perez have been serving a blend of cultures for more than three decades.
Nearly eight months later, the diner’s business had started picking back up, thanks in part to the city of Chicago’s partial reopening that allowed restaurants to seat at 25 percent capacity with social distancing. But for the tiny Park View Diner, that was still just about six customers.
By April, for instance, 41 percent of Black-owned and 32 percent of Latinx-owned businesses nationwide had folded, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper published in June. Just under 20 percent of white-owned businesses had shuttered within that period.
With utilities and other bills still needing to be paid, Perez applied for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, one of the federal pandemic relief programs intended to cover payroll, rent, and more for small businesses. Like many other business owners of color though, he never received any money.
“To go back to the way it was—not going to work,” he added. “The only way we will get back is if we open up 100 percent.”
“I’m not going to make enough money to actually pay my employees and then bills for light, electrical and all that, the supplies, and this and that,” Rodriguez said. “So, I just thought, you know what? I’m not getting it. I’m losing money.”
