Looking Back at the 2020 Covid Crisis

Who opens a restaurant right before a national emergency? Without any foresight for this one of a kind mishap, we had opened our doors to a modern day paradox. We had just completed construction, cleared city permits, health permits, hired staff, and have been paying our lease for the last six months securing our location without any income from the restaurant and bills quickly piling up. We opened our restaurant one week prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic… 
Like many small businesses, we have been devastated. On the 2nd week of opening the restaurant, we made a decision to notify employees a temporary leave of absence. The family have been the only staff during these times. The silver lining in this is we had come together for the sole purpose of keeping GONZO! alive. Simultaneously, we had been trying hard to find small business relief/loans. If you have just opened a business, it was impossible to qualify for small business relief at this time as we were unable to display proof of loss in income. We had to count on the strong community support and for that we thank you!