COVID-19 Closes Popular Restaurant

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS

“I paid the March rent but my April [was] due on the 5^th,” Nabin Sherchan said. He didn’t pay, and he worries about the future of his restaurant. Mustang Thakali Kitchen, which he and his wife opened in 2008, does not offer delivery or take-out because it does not have a permanent delivery system.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio issued an Executive Order in the third week of March. The order limited restaurants and bars to take-out and delivery to reduce the number of close interactions among New Yorkers as the coronavirus continues to spread. Restaurant owners like Sherchan have been hit the hardest.

Sherchan and his wife Sharmila, Nepalese-Americans, named their restaurant after a Nepalese ethnic group. Its first floor serves Thakali and Tibetan delicacies like thalis, momos, and thukpas. In a basement serving area, many Nepalese customers host celebrations like Pashni (a baby’s first time eating solid food) and birthday parties. On Friday and Saturday nights the restaurant comes alive as large groups gather to eat and catch up with one another.

Mustang Thakali Kitchen served the Nepalese community in its first years, but the customer demographic has changed over the years. “Customers were only Nepalis at first, only 10 percent foreign. Our customers are now 50 percent non-Nepali. Nepali people eat here over the weekend,” Sharmila Sherchan said. The restaurant now has four stars and 168 reviews on Yelp.

The couple noticed business dying in March amidst the fear of coronavirus and decided to close up shop. Sherchan feels like he is in a mental jail. He is worried about the rent and his employees. He believes he will not be able to keep business open without government aid. “Two to four months later, we will be lost,” he said. “We cannot pay rent. If we cannot have a business loan, we cannot stay afloat.”

On March 19, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson proposed a $12 billion relief plan to help workers and businesses in New York City. The proposal asks the federal government for help with the expansion of unemployment and small business loan programs. Speaker Johnson declared that if the proposal were to be denied, the city would try to continue the program on its own by a surcharge on high-end commercial property, a tax increase on personal income of over $500,000 a year, and a temporary payroll tax for the wealthy. 

Sherchan believes the zero percent interest loan program, another facet of the proposal, would help his business after the pandemic. “It will take seven to eight years to come into normal. If people are jobless, how are they going to eat at restaurants? How are they going to purchase [goods]?” he said.

He tries to combat his anxieties by keeping in contact with his employees. The couple employed four waiters and five cooks in the kitchen on weekends and two waiters and four cooks on weekdays. He and his wife call the cooks and waiters. They ask them to be careful and to keep in touch. He considers giving them a half-day salary and is offering to buy their groceries. “It is not enough if the government supports us. We can help them. We just have to wait and see,” Sherchan said.

The Sherchans nervously watch to see if their business qualifies for any loans from the $2 trillion relief package passed by Congress on March 25. “We haven’t applied to any (loan programs). We’re just waiting on the stimulus,” their son Anu said. “The $1200 plus any loans that we can be approved for will most likely be used for the restaurant…. Once we receive it, the money will be used to fund our business…paying our employees, paying rent,” he said.