Since the coronavirus pandemic forced him to temporarily close Restaurant Tyler in Starkville, owner Ty Thames has been dealing with a lot of unknowns and uncertainty.
If Mississippi State doesn’t hold in-person classes this fall — meaning Starkville would likely miss out on seven home football games — Thames knows the future of his restaurant becomes even more unsure.
“We don’t know if there’s going to be school,” Thames told The Dispatch. “We don’t know if there’s going to be football. If we don’t have school and we don’t have football, the future for the restaurant is looking pretty dim.”
His financial uncertainty is part of the reason Thames applied for a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program, a program administered by the federal Small Business Administration to mitigate the financial stress of the pandemic. Thames said the loan will account 2.5 percent of his payroll for eight weeks, and it can be forgiven as long as 75 percent or more of the money goes toward paying employees.
But Thames hasn’t gotten anything yet. The first round of funding for the PPP — totaling $349 billion — ran out quickly after it opened April 3, and Thames hopes his loan will be approved when a second round begins at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
Even if it does, Thames said, Restaurant Tyler’s future might depend on how long the pandemic lasts — what he called an “evolving day-to-day situation.”
“That’s only a short-term solution, and we’re looking at a long-term problem,” Thames said of the loan. “… The longer this goes on, the harder it will be for not just me but other businesses to come back.”
Steve Pyle, owner of the Cafe on Main in Columbus, has seen business drop to nearly 30 percent of normal since the restaurant switched to curbside pick-up only. Pyle said he was approved for PPP loans for the Cafe on Main as well as all three locations of the Golden Glow Tanning Salon — Columbus, Starkville and Vernon, Alabama.
“It’ll tremendously help us for the lost income that we’ve had during this time,” Pyle said.
All three salons are currently shut down, though, under Mississippi’s current shelter in place order. That expires Monday, but Gov. Tate Reeves’ new “Safer at Home” order will keep Pyle’s businesses closed.
He said he thinks sanitizing practices, regular inspections and ultraviolet light — which can help kill particles on surfaces but will not kill the virus in anyone who has already contracted it — are reasons his salons should be able to remain open.
“I think we can do it a lot better than some of the bigger businesses because we’re not dealing with a whole bunch of people that are coming through,” Pyle said.
He said his salons will remain closed in accordance with the guidelines. But with the Cafe on Main’s reliance on curbside — which Pyle said is not financially sustainable — Pyle knows local businesses are taking a hit.
“I just hate it for a lot of small businesses, including our own, that can’t open back up,” Pyle said.
Pyle said he applied for the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Emergency Advance, which provides $10,000 for economic relief, for all four businesses.
Jose Elarba, owner of Arepas Coffee & Bar in Starkville, did the same. It hasn’t been enough, though; with business down around 70 percent, Elarba has had to cut his staff to two employees from the original crew of six to eight.
“With the revenue right now, I can’t pay them,” he told The Dispatch on Friday. “Between rent and service, I can’t.”
Elarba said he called the SBA about a week ago, hoping to receive more money, but the organization told him to wait for an email that still hasn’t come.
With the money from the EIDL advance, Elarba said he had not planned to apply for a PPP loan — until he found out the second round of funding was coming.
“I heard that they ran out of money, but yesterday they said they were going to add more funds to it, so maybe I will,” Elarba said Friday.
Editor’s note: The Dispatch applied for and received a PPP loan during the first round of funding.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.