At El Fuego in Center City, business is booming during every lunch hour.

However, rewind back to 2020 and things were much more bleak due to the pandemic, report Cheryl Mettendorf and Nydia Han for 6abc.

El Fuego owner Pete Ellis recalled things being very weird and lonely amid the onset of the pandemic. He also lost nearly all his employees, most of whom where single mothers.

As a result of the pandemic, Ellis had to cut back business hours, as well as food costs.

“We didn’t pay ourselves for months at a time,” he said. “And I was forced to do side jobs like DoorDash and Uber.”

Some of that impact is still being felt, as the business continues to operate only for lunch during the weekdays. In the past year, Ellis and his partner had to make the tough decision to sell their food truck.

While challenges remain, he hopes they will soon be able to open on Saturdays again.

Philadelphia businesses have been heavily impacted over the past five years.

The 6abc data journalist team reported that Philadelphia business closures peaked in 2021 with more than 3,400 locations. However, by 2022, the number of business locations and employees rose higher than pandemic levels.

Read more about how El Fuego and other businesses are continuing to cope since the pandemic at 6abc.

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