PORTLAND, Ore — Restaurants all over the Portland metro area are struggling to stay open.
This week, they were thrown a life raft when the governor announced they could have a limited number of customers back inside starting Friday.
That announcement couldn't come soon enough for many restaurant owners. Already in 2021, more than 90 Portland restaurants have shut their doors. That's on top of the hundreds that closed in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Restaurants in East Portland face their own unique challenges compared with restaurants in the city's core, but those that are still open are committed to staying and serving loyal customers.
The Gateway Breakfast House used to see lines out the door. Now, they depend on a phone line for business. Tables normally packed with regulars sit empty.
"I love it, it's family. I miss all the older couples that used to come in," the Gateway Breakfast House supervisor Judy King said. "Kids get raised here, then they bring their children in here."
The popular breakfast spot on Northeast 114th and Halsey has stayed with takeout since the second shut-down. They're doing about half the business they did pre-pandemic, if that.
They do plan to open inside on Friday with just two or three tables, given they're a very small restaurant with only 10 tables.
"[We have a] very small parking lot and a homeless problem," King said. "People don't want to take their breakfast to-go. Eggs don't do well in a to-go container riding home. But they have been coming because they feel loyalty to us and want to make sure we're still open when it's over."
That same loyalty keeps Don Kamaron on the Portland-Gresham border mixing margaritas and grilling fresh seafood.
"We were never too big on to-go. People mainly came here for the experience," co-owner Ernesto Llauger said.
Grants and loans have helped, but are running out.
"We’re coming down to the end of it, and we're just scared that this will be it for us. We don't want that to happen. We're not going to let it happen," Ernesto's sister Thalia Llauger said.
They are, however, in the process of getting a second Paycheck Protection Program loan right now.
They just dropped $3,000 on an outdoor dining set-up for the first time since the restrictions hit. With restrictions easing, Don Kamaron will reopen inside at 25% capacity Friday.
Six months before the pandemic hit, they expanded to a much bigger space. Revenue has dipped by at least 80%, the Llaugers said.
"Rent costs a lot in this space and it's a lot of bills and not a lot revenue, so it's been rough," Ernesto said.
The siblings took over the restaurant from their mom not long before expanding.
"[Our mom has] been there so much, it's made it our dream, too. So that's going to keep us going, definitely."
"How can I see this restaurant go down or be nonexistent after 17 years of hard work?" Thalia said.
Like hundreds of other restaurants, Don Kamaron and Gateway Breakfast House laid off staff twice. At both restaurants, their staff are like family.
"To lay these people off who are supporting their families from us, it's tough," Ernesto added.
The yo-yoing COVID-19 restrictions have hit restaurants across Portland hard.
Fork and Spoon Foodhouse, a family-run Filipino restaurant in the Parkrose neighborhood, is adjusting and trying to strategize new ways to save money while doing take-out. But they, too, have been struggling to make ends meet.
Their takeout business ebbs and flows.
Owner Erwina Barney said they got some help from city grants.
"To save money, I need to work a lot of hours. At the same time, doing most of the roles at the restaurant: cooking, managing, serving, all that kind of stuff. It’s draining physically, mentally, emotionally and financially. It’s really hard, it's really tough," Barney told KGW.
But with spoon in hand, Barney won't let her fire die.
"I'm not looking on what I'm experiencing right now but what's the future ahead."
Depending on how much snow the eastside of Portland gets, Fork and Spoon plans to reopen next week for limited indoor dining.
All three of the East Portland restaurants deal with other set-backs because of their locations; they've dealt with break-ins, houseless folks sleeping on their sidewalks, people parking RVs and getting into trouble in their parking lots.
But they'd still choose setting up shop there over downtown Portland.
"It's more quiet, more people around are very supportive. So that's the reason why we're still here," Barney said.
"They had all those riots. They went through a lot more than we went through. We were thankful that wasn't our neighborhood," King said.