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 For 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. At the time, it provided a desperately needed lifeline. He was confident…