Yeah, this article seems less like lamenting COVID’s impact on the hospitality industry and more a case study in why bar and restaurant experience does not inherently mean you’re ready to own your own business. In the article the guy details how they opened in a space next to a church so they couldn’t sell liquor and had to get a second space to make cocktails (probably should have figured that out before leasing the first space…), appears to admit to using illegal labor (employee moved back to Mexico because they couldn’t get them hours, they would have been on PUA if legal and probably made more than they did at the bar) and regularly not paying bills. They make it sound like the government left them high and dry until admitting they got forgiven PPP loans to pay their staff the whole time. It was a hectic time and caused a ton of suffering for everyone but at least the city tried ideas (such as the outdoor dining, togo drinks that the author is complaining about) to keep you in business while offering unprecedented unemployment supplements and forgivable loans.

This just doesn’t seem like a viable business even if it is somebody’s favorite bar.