Chris and Amy Hillyard opened their Oakland, California restaurant late last month for the first time since mid-March, thanks in large part to a government loan aimed at tiding over small firms during the worst of the coronavirus crisis.related media assets available. Click to see the gallery.
Customers who used to work nearby have told Chris that even when their office buildings do reopen, they expect to continue to do their jobs mostly from home. The idea is simple: to help small businesses keep on their employees during coronavirus shutdowns so that on the other side they'll be able to quickly resume normal operations.The program opened on April 3 with an initial US$349 billion in funding. The rollout was marred by technical glitches as many of the nation's 30 million small businesses tried to access the cash.
"We had to pause and just take a step back and figure out how we're going to get out of this hole that we're in financially," Chris said. It was"a pretty depressing situation."Meanwhile they launched several new business lines to generate at least some revenue, including weekly"family meals" like biscuits and chicken, prepared by their own family of four, for a few dozen customers.
"It was a huge relief," Chris said."I'm feeling a little more optimistic about our plans going forward and that we have a plan in place to try to get out of this situation."