Italian restaurant Penne Pomodoro closed in the Dallas neighborhood of Lakewood in mid-July.
Co-owner Alberto Lombardi, who operates 16 other restaurants, says decreased business due to the new coronavirus was the main reason for the restaurant’s closure. Penne Pomodoro had been open in Lakewood since 2009, according to Dallas Morning News archives.
The original Penne Pomodoro, in Dallas’ Snider Plaza, remains open. So does a second restaurant at Preston-Forest.
Lombardi is optimistic about the health of his other businesses, saying “we will survive at 50%,” the occupancy rate mandated by Gov. Greg Abbott. He employs 650 people among his restaurants, which include Bistro 31 in Highland Park; Taverna in Dallas, Plano, Fort Worth, Austin and Atlanta; and Toulouse in Dallas, Plano, Austin and Houston.
Lombardi, like most other serial restaurateurs, furloughed nearly all of his employees when restaurant dining rooms were first shut down in March. His restaurants received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) money, but he says those funds are now gone. The Small Business Administration gave more than 15,000 loans to North Texas businesses. More than 1,000 loans went to restaurants in North Texas, to the tune of at least $473 million.
The two remaining Penne Pomodoros were each given PPP loans between $150,000 and $350,000. Some of Lombardi’s other restaurants got more, like Toulouse and Taverna on Knox Street, which each received between $350,000 and $1 million.
“Even if you get PPP money, it runs out,” Lombardi says.
Lombardi guesses that business at Penne Pomodoro in Lakewood took a dive during the coronavirus crisis in part because “there are too many restaurants” in the area. He also credits the nearby Lakewood Country Club — at which he is a member — as one place where Lakewood residents spent money during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of going to local restaurants.
Restaurants near Penne Pomodoro in Lakewood have chosen various tactics to combat the pandemic. Breakfast and dinner spot The Heights is closed until July 30 after a staffer tested positive for the virus in late June. Restaurants like Liberty Burger and Mi Cocina are open at 50% occupancy and also selling to-go food. Unleavened Kitchen has closed its dining room, opting for delivery and to-go only. Brunch spot Kozy Kitchen closed in mid-June, citing a lack of business, and is moving back to Uptown.
Nearby bar Full Circle Tavern is also closed — though it shuttered before the pandemic hit Dallas, in November 2019.
Lombardi says the coronavirus made it “impossible to stay in business” in Lakewood.
“It’s not that we lost money. We’ve been making money since we opened for 10 years. But you know when it’s time to say ‘no mas.’ We have many other restaurants that we want to concentrate on and make sure everyone is doing fine.”
He says he chooses to believe restaurants will survive the COVID-19 pandemic but adds this caveat: “If we have another [dining room] closure, then we have a problem.”
