WEST PITTSTON – A prominent restaurant is back in business after being shutdown for more than six weeks due to the COVID-19 crisis. Agolino’s Restaurant, a family-owned business since 1964, began take-out service orders for pick-up or delivery this past week.
On March 16, nearly two months ago, the Agolino family made a tough decision to close all three of their eateries, Bar Pazzo, Washington Avenue, Scranton; Pazzo, Rt. 315, Pittston; Agolino’s Restaurant on Luzerne Avenue, West Pittston.
“Agolino’s is an expensive place to run because we have a lot of employees and there are a lot of fixed expenses, so to stay open and not meet our expenses, the decision wasn’t hard to close,” Corinne Agolino Salko, Agolino’s business manager, said. “You can’t operate if you don’t have the business coming through, it became a numbers game. For us to close, it was the numbers that decided.”
All of the facilities under the Agolino umbrella, shut down upon Gov. Tom Wolf’s order on March 16, but Salko remained working from behind the scenes to ensure they could get back on their feet once again.
Businesses applying for the Payment Protection Program (PPP) through the Small Business Administration (SBA), had to file detailed reports on payroll and expenses. Once accepted into the PPP, businesses would receive money to help with payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utility expenses for an eight-week period.
“In order for us to come back, we needed the PPP money and we did get it,” Salko said. “For us to come back in a modified way, we had to take that step. We couldn’t accrue debt and stay open.”
Agolino’s Restaurant reopened with a limited take-out menu featuring soups, salads, sandwiches, entrees, sides and desserts, on May 5. They will be serving from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
“Our reopening has been well received,” Salko admitted. “We have a bit of a lull mid-afternoon but I think as we go along we will have to find a happy medium; times are going to change, food is going to change, so it’s going to be a constant evolvement. We have to do what’s smart.”
Salko said Agolino’s has a huge selection on the lunch and dinner menu, and it was a tough decision to finalize the current take-out menu.
Staff arrives at the restaurant as early as 10 a.m. to prepare for the day and phone orders are from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Brian “Buzzy” Budzak has been a chef working at Agolino’s Restaurant for nearly 35 years and looked forward to returning to work. Before the pandemic struck, Budzak worked an average 60 to 65 hours per week.
“The biggest thing about the shutdown was the financial hit, that hurt,” Budzak said. “I lost a lot of money, even with collecting, but I’m glad to be back.”
Budzak said while he had downtime, he caught up on home projects that kept him busy over the six week absence from work.
“We brought all of our people back that we needed to bring back,” Salko said. “We want all of our employees to back and okay and healthy. It’s really been hard on the wait staff.”
Salko’s concern wasn’t just with the employees; she said she worried about many of the regulars that patronized the businesses, especially at Agolino’s Restaurant.
“We see the same people that come here and like little Ruthie, for example, we worried about her if she was getting food or if she’s been able to go to the store,” Salko said about a faithful customer. “This is our home base, these people were here for us when we came back after the floods (1972 and 2011). These are the people that have supported us. That doesn’t go unseen or forgotten and there’s a responsibility we have.”
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