Montclair Business Owner Tries To Survive COVID: 'I'm Holding On'

MONTCLAIR, NJ — For now, Cheryl Spinelli is managing to hold on. Most of her staff remain on-call. A few small grants helped to keep the wolves from the door. And her kitchen space and insurance remain intact.

But the owner of Church Street Catering in Montclair knows there’s a long road ahead before business will be back to normal. And until then, she’ll just have to keep on keeping on.

As other small businesses in Montclair go under amid the coronavirus pandemic, Spinelli and other local entrepreneurs in her shoes are doing what they can to get by. It isn’t easy, she says.

Last week – shortly after Gov. Phil Murphy announced new COVID-19 rules for New Jersey’s businesses – Spinelli reached out to Patch, offering to share a glimpse of how the pandemic has affected Church Street Catering.

Her full message follows below.

“I am a small business caterer and event planner, experiencing similar problems to restaurants and bars but while they were able to be open in the summer and enjoy, albeit limited, business outside and then indoors since fall, we do not have the same opportunity. Our business relies on larger groups of people meeting for longer periods of time than is generally allowed. Because of that, it has pretty much devastated my business. People have cancelled most of their events, social and corporate, for this year and are hesitant to book next year until we know better what is going to happen with the virus, what medications may become approved as well as when vaccines may become available to the general public. We are in a holding pattern. Even the memorials for those taken by the virus have been put off for obvious reasons.

“Meanwhile, we still pay for our kitchen space, insurance and static expenses, but with no income, it is a stretch. The two grants I was lucky to be approved for were small ($1,000 for one and $2,000 for the other). Although funds were depleted quickly, the grants helped and I am grateful. Those of us in the field of hospitality and live events (caterers, venue owners, bakers, entertainment, rental companies, etc.) were the first to shut down and will be the last to reopen. Those who may have obtained loans to get through will have to pay those loans back, taking from income that we hope will become available soon, but will delay any personal catching up or financial growth until one can get out from under the debt. The time period where we are not able to make money is just a loss that we will never get back.

“For now, I am holding on and appreciate that my landlord is a good person, but still has to collect rent to make ends meet on his end. My staff, who are mostly on-call, are hoping to be called in again soon. They depend on pick up work to make ends meet in their own lives. This also affects the small business vendors, like bakers, DJ’s, etc., who I support by referring business to them. Those in my circle all wish that the country would have risen to the task at the outset, to recognize the enormous threat that this virus presented, and wish the entire country had done the right thing instead of doing the thing that was easiest, the thing that they wanted to hear, like children who don’t want to do their chores. We could have been in much better shape. More of us could have been back to work. Fewer people could have gotten sick, and worse, died. Families and friends may not be at each other’s throats on the subject of masks. How silly does that even sound?

“That said, I remain hopeful that the new administration will get in and turn things around and wish that the current leaders would step up and help us before more people go under. I would ask that those who don’t believe in masks would humor the rest of us and wear them anyway because it really doesn’t hurt them to do that. They don’t have to buy in if they don’t believe, just placate us if that is all we can get.”

• See related article: 'Cost Of Despair' Weighs On Montclair Bars, Restaurants In COVID
• See related article: Montclair Bars, Restaurants Face New COVID Rules From NJ – Again

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