Minority-owned businesses navigating the virus
Holly Tonini
Al Collins, co-owner of Al an’ Ruben’s, continues to provide curbside pickup for customers but has not reopened the restaurant for dining in.
Rick Shrum / Observer-Reporter
Linda Adkins, owner of LA Sweets on North Main Street in Washington, is planning to reopen her bakery in July.
Al Collins got the green light to reopen his restaurant to indoor dining a week ago. But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he isn’t ready to hit the gas.
“We were the first restaurant to close, in probably all of Pittsburgh, and we’ll probably be the last to reopen,” said the co-owner of Al an’ Ruben’s Bar & Grill in Washington.
He and his business partner, wife Leesa, shuttered the restaurant on the Saturday before Gov. Tom Wolf issued his mid-March edict that non-life-sustaining businesses close in an effort to mitigate spread of the coronavirus.
The governor’s order allowed restaurants to prepare items for takeout, and deliver them if they could, but banned indoor dining in the red and yellow phases of operation. Al an’ Ruben’s has provided curbside pickup, at three doorways far removed from each other, yet did not start that service until early April.
Washington County transitioned into the least-restrictive green phase last Friday, enabling dining locations to resume indoor service at 50% occupancy of patrons. The Collinses did not go for it, though, and aren’t sure when they will. Safety first.
That is a mantra other businesses are following, including three minority-owned operations in Washington County that were contacted for this story. (A fourth, a construction contractor, did not immediately return phone calls.) The three are food-related, and have something else in common: Ownership did not want to discuss protests related to the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
The Collinses, who are African American, have owned Al an’ Ruben’s for 13 years. They endured a horrific experience about two and a half years ago when a frozen waterline ruptured, causing $225,000 in flood damage. They realize the coronavirus, likewise, has the potential to do more than curtail their business.
“We haven’t moved to a new phase,” Al said, referring to his restaurant. “We want to see what happens so it’s going to be a few weeks before we open. There’s so much going on in the world, and if this virus spreads …
“The last day we were open (in March), I looked at all of these smiling faces and thought, ‘What if one person became sick. All of these people would leave.’ I told our employees that we were closing and they didn’t like it, but I wanted them to be safe.”
His staff includes several individuals with underlying health conditions, putting them at risk of contracting the illness. One was born without a spleen, another has sickle cell. His daughter has lupus, and Al has diabetes and asthma.
“I’d rather lose money than a life,” he said. “You can always get money back. You can’t get a person back.”
Twelve miles to the north, in Southpointe, Jose and Tera Lemus don’t plan to open Los Chiludos Mexican Restaurant and Catering “for possibly a few weeks.”
That was Tera’s assessment. She is an African American whose spouse is a Mexico City native, and they have dual concerns about hosting indoor dining at this time. They do not want to reopen to a 50% occupancy ceiling, a guidance that most restaurateurs say is not economically viable.
“If occupancy goes to 100% and the virus is not spreading, reopening is certainly an option,” Tera said. “We don’t want to be guinea pigs. But we also didn’t want to put at risk our employees who have pre-existing conditions. One of our staff members is undergoing chemotherapy.
“I know I wouldn’t be comfortable sitting in a restaurant now.”
Since 2010, Los Chiludos has been in a strip mall at the intersection of Southpointe Boulevard and Technology Drive. The Lemuses have offered takeout since the shutdown began, and she said the response has been strong.
“We are very, very, very grateful to our customers, who have been incredibly supportive through all of this. We don’t feel pressure to open at 50% (occupancy).”
One of her observations during the pandemic is that “casual restaurants seem to be doing better” than their competition. “A lot of upscale restaurants have suffered. Who wants to spend $30 or $40 for a takeout box and have to reheat it at home?”
These have not been sweet times for LA Sweets, a dessert emporium that doesn’t do doughnuts, but has been big on wedding cakes and apple dumplings as large as one’s head. The shop, on North Main Street in Washington, has been shuttered since March 17.
“It’s not been good,” owner Linda Adkins said. “It’s kind of hard to do window shopping at a bakery because people want to come in.”
She is not offering takeout and has had to cancel orders for events – including weddings – until October. She does have weddings scheduled beginning then.
Adkins, however, is planning to reopen her shop “at the beginning of July,” when interns are to come on board.
“I think we’ll be OK once we’re back open,” said Adkins, an African-American resident of Washington. “It was really busy before the shutdown. I was working all the way up to then. Now I just take special weekend orders.”
Idle time has given her opportunities to brainstorm, and she plans to expand offerings.
“I just want to thank my customers for hanging in there,” she said. “I apologize if there’s been something I could not do. I’m trying my best, and I will be back.
“None of us has been through anything like this.”