New downtown restaurant opens despite COVID-19 pandemic
The restaurant business has taken a hit with more than half, in a recent survey, saying they believe they will have no choice but to close within the next nine months.
Still, one local business partnership plans to face those odds head-on and opening a new restaurant in downtown Youngstown.
On Tuesday, employees at Gringo's Tacos on Phelps Street were learning the ins-and-outs of preparing southern Mexican dishes, and of course, tequila and mezcal specialty drinks.
The new restaurant's owners and operators said getting to this point hasn't been easy.
"More bumps in the road perse, and we just don't know what to expect opening during this time," said Co-operator Jorje Carreno.
The idea for the restaurant is nearly three years in the making, but no one could have anticipated a pandemic.
"It really slowed down the process dramatically," said Owner/Partner Ken Vigorito, explaining that painters, plumbers, and contractors each had to come in separately.
"We just didn't want to have all the trades in here as a normal job. A normal job, we would have everyone here working on top of each other just to get the project done," said Vigorito.
Also, orders for equipment and supplies were delayed.
"Anything with manufacturing, anything with employees that were off work definitely pushed our progress back quite a bit," said Vigorito.
Now in the home stretch, they're waiting on a liquor license to be finalized, and then they'll open their doors in the coming days.
Perhaps another temporary hic-up is the construction on Phelps Street. But, they believe this will pay off in the long run since the final project encourages downtown dining.
"I've been told quite a few times, 'You sure you want to open a bar right now?' Kind of tricky times, but like I said, we're starting here and hoping all we can do is move up from here," said Vigorito.
The restaurant will employ about 18 people; they hope once COVID-19 settles down, they can increase that number to about 28.