Chip Kohn knows how brutally the pandemic has hurt his industry: His three West Hartford restaurants lost about $400,000 last year, and are in the midst of a frighteningly slow winter.
“We’re down 47% in sales. On March 1 we had 85 employees, now it’s 25 — and frankly, I don’t have enough business for the 25,” Kohn told lawmakers Friday.
Tiffany Nguyen, owner of Pho135 in West Hartford as well as a small insurance agency, offered a similar story.
“For the past seven months I’ve had to get money from my other business to subsidize my restaurant.