There is a lot to like about Estefani Orellana-Garcia’s story, especially the way it parallels the innovative spirit and gritty perseverance shown by other business owners determined to survive the pandemic.
With the one-year anniversary of COVID-19’s onslaught almost upon us, it’s hard to imagine shopping, eating in a restaurant, boarding a plane or going to a concert in February 2020 and being told that you would be denied all of those pleasures in less than a month and for longer than a year.
For business owners, including restaurateurs like Orellana-Garcia, the pandemic has been a figurative drive off a cliff with doors closed, employees laid off, and the future bleak.
Lynn native Orellana-Garcia opened Estefani’s on Union Street on Feb. 7, 2020 with her parents and, within weeks, got shut down by COVID-19 — but only after enduring a Valentine’s Day, 2020 fire and flood.
Opening a business was a huge step out of her comfort zone for Orellana-Garcia. She grew up around the restaurant industry and decided to leave a promising corporate job to strike out on her own.
She designed her own menu, incorporating Central American dishes like birria tacos and pica pica wings, and hired 12 full-time employees. COVID-19 shut Estefani’s down on March 13 and Orellana-Garcia’s commitment to her dream faced a tough test.
Drawing on support from neighboring business owners, she figured out how to stay one step ahead of the business-destroying pandemic.
She devised an online food delivery system; promoted new menu additions, used social media to keep customers loyal to Estefani’s and to draw in new customers. Estefani’s reopened for takeout and delivery on May 1.
As the COVID-19 vaccination rate increases and pandemic restrictions are slowly relaxed, businesses will need support to help them retake the ground lost during the past 11 months.
Financial help for businesses has come at the local, state and federal level. But Lynn and other communities can make the reopening process easier by streamlining the inspection process for reopening and ensuring all businesses are on a level playing field when it comes to getting the green light to reopen.
COVID-19 protocols could still be in place when warm weather returns and restaurants should not be made to jump through regulatory hoops or fill out exhaustively-long applications in their bids to provide outdoor seating.
Cities and towns should go the extra mile to help restaurants make outdoor dining possible and promote outdoor dining opportunities.
Estefani Orellana-Garcia and thousands of entrepreneurs like her have taken the risks and shouldered the work to make sure their businesses survive the pandemic. Municipalities must give them every chance possible to fully reopen once pandemic restrictions ease.
