Walk down the streets in Bushwick, you’ll find food as diverse as the over 100,000 New Yorkers who call this area home. Within blocks your choices range from Mexican, Caribbean, Thai, Venezuelan, Italian, Chinese – the list goes on. Like so many New Yorkers and visitors, I have had the pleasure of exploring the many brick-and-mortar small businesses that make this community so vibrant. Just a few weeks ago, I stood outside of the newly opened Tikal Café on the corner of Decatur and Knickerbocker, as Carolina Hernandez joined friends and neighbors to celebrate the fruition of her dream of starting her own business. Like so many, Carolina had struggled during the pandemic. She had lost her employment and decided it was time to finally take the plunge and open a restaurant of her own. 

Had Carolina been operating Tikal Café at the height of the pandemic, things would have likely looked different. As the world began to shut down in the early spring of 2020 and ambulances screeched through our city’s streets, countless restaurant owners were forced to scramble. Many rushed to move sales online, to set up makeshift “to-go” counters, and to provide employees with masks, hand sanitizer, and other protective gear. Meanwhile, Congress acted to extend disaster assistance to businesses hurt by the pandemic and created the new Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to provide quick and immediate relief. And while the program wasn’t perfect, it sent forgivable loans to over half of all small businesses with under ten employees in New York City, including restaurants.