Amongst the horrible conditions and ongoing Coronavirus quarantine, is there any sort of silver lining? Maybe quality time with your family? I mean, if you love going from working 60+ hours a week to sitting at home with your spouse and kids…Fun!

Supporting local businesses through COVID-19

Let’s look at some of the good though. The big push right now is everyone is saying “go support local businesses.” Now restaurants are by no means doing the same level of business that they would with a full dining room, and no one being scared that they could catch a deadly virus. However, this outbreak has encouraged and pulled people together to try out a new local spot that they would have otherwise overlooked. Who would have known that there were so many local, small establishments that relied on its citizens to help keep it afloat? The moral of the story here is that in tough times such as these, people are pulling together to help support those in need in any way they can. Last night, I went out to get pizza from a small Italian restaurant that I normally wouldn’t have gone to. I’m very much delivery-large-pizza-for-$7.99-guy, but I knew I needed to help the small mom and pop shop that really needed the extra support, and boy it didn’t disappoint. I believe that I have a new spot for pizza, feel free to check them out here: https://www.salvatorisitalian.com/new-haven-east/

Tracking progress during pandemic

I spoke with the owner of a local restaurant with multiple restaurants under his umbrella. “Sales are down about 75-80% from where they were a few weeks ago, but our carryout and delivery are up 2500%.” Many local establishments carryout and delivery are up by twenty-five times from where they were a few weeks ago. That is simply amazing, and it makes me so proud of our city to hear that they are coming to the aid of local establishments in these very difficult times. It will be interesting to see how the sales shift weeks after the COVID-19 has passed. I guarantee that delivery and carryout go back down to normal sales, but what about dine-in? Will people venture out to the new local spot that they so adventurously tried while they were in quarantine? Wrapping things up here, this quarantine that we are all under could be one of the best things that happened to the local mom and pop shops.