For restaurants Covid-19 was a crisis – pandemic loans are proving a disaster

Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images Our unequal earth Restaurants For restaurants Covid-19 was a crisis – pandemic loans are proving a disaster Low-interest loans kept many eateries afloat. But the industry never recovered enough for them to repay the debt

About this content Adam Reiner Fri 16 Oct 2026 14.00 BST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google F or almost 20 years, Jai Mazumdar has served vegetarian curries, samosas, gulab jamun and other Indian delicacies at Spice N Curry, a cafe and grocery nestled inside a modest strip mall near Florida International University (FIU) in Miami. When the Covid-19 pandemic devastated his business, as it did with so many restaurants, Mazumdar took out a $370,000 economic injury disaster loan (EIDL) from the federal government in early 2021.