How the small businessmen are doing now - The Views

For most small business owners and sole proprietors, the economic fallout from the pandemic was hellish. CNN Business profiled a number of them over the past year and a half and checked back with a few to see how they are faring today. GYM Sportsbar owner Rick Schmutzler was doing quite well before the pandemic, running three successful, profitable gay sports bars in New York, Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles. “My business was solidly profitable for 15 years. I didn’t owe a penny to anybody,” Schmutzler said.

But today he is down to two locations and is carrying more than $600,000 in debt thanks to back rent, an economic disaster loan from the Small Business Administration and a New York small business loan. And all that is after having gotten two Paycheck Protection Program loans for each location — which he described as “lifesavers” and which he expects to be fully forgiven.

“These past 16 months have been a lot. … As the founder of the business, I am the head cheerleader. So while I was trying to keep a really public positive face, there were a few times I wasn’t sure all three of the businesses would survive. Or any of them,” Schmutzler said.

He ended up shuttering his Los Angeles bar because he couldn’t come to a deal on rent with his landlord. His Fort Lauderdale bar fared best, primarily because it had lower operating expenses and a kitchen that allowed it to stay open as a restaurant. Plus, Florida was one of the first states to relax pandemic restrictions. And it was the only branch for which he got a grant from the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund