Wallingford Small Businesses Receive Financial Assistance from Barstool Sports’s Covid-Relief Fund

Photo by Peter Di Natale/The Choate News

Launched by the digital media company Barstool Sports to support small businesses during the pandemic, the Barstool Fund is a nationwide effort that has now reached two Wallingford restaurants: Laskara Restaurant and Gaetano’s Tavern on Main. 

Both establishments received support from the fund following their submission of a video describing the adverse impacts of the pandemic on their business. The grant is given on a monthly basis and will continue to support these restaurants for the duration of the pandemic and until certain Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Government-enforced safety guidelines have significantly altered the way restaurants control in-house dining, making it more difficult for them to attract customers. “The pandemic was a huge hit to every small business — having restrictions, having to close, and not being able to serve our customers the way we were always used to,” said Ms. Maria Riopel, co-owner of Laskara Restaurant. “We’ve adapted by using all the regulations that the CDC has given us: putting plexiglass up, separating tables. We understand the disease is very important, but it does put a stress on every local business.”

Perhaps one of the most difficult challenges that small business owners have faced during the pandemic is having to turn away customers who do not comply with health guidelines. “In the customer service business, you’re always telling people yes, trying to make them happy, and giving them whatever they want,” Ms. Riopel said. “With the guidelines that we’re given now, we had to turn it around and tell people, ‘no,’ for a lot of things.” She added, “With the restrictions, you almost have to police everybody.”

Ms. Debbie Pacileo, co-owner of Gaetano’s Tavern on Main, said that the pandemic “has definitely made our business a lot slower.” She estimates that Gaetano’s now receives 40% fewer customers in a week than they did before the pandemic. In the last week of December, Ms. Pacileo submitted a video requesting assistance from the Barstool Fund. “You just really had to tell them your story about the struggles you had,” Ms. Pacileo said. “And we had a lot of health problems here, so I think that might have been one of the reasons they decided to help us out.”

The process of applying to the fund was simple, requiring only two other conditions outside of the video submission: the applicants had to prove that their restaurant was successful prior to the pandemic and that the payroll has experienced no deductions over a certain number of months. Just a couple of days after their videos were submitted, the owners of Laskara’s Restaurant and Gaetano’s Tavern on Main received a FaceTime call from Mr. Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, who congratulated them on receiving aid from the Barstool Fund. 

In response to the FaceTime call, Ms. Pacileo said, “As soon as I saw him, I knew that this was actually going to happen. What he’s doing is amazing, and he was very sincere.”

Ms. Riopel was likewise shocked. “You don’t think that anyone’s ever really going to see you when you’re a small business,” she said. “When I received the call, and I realized that it was real and that we were actually going to get some help, it gave us a little bit of breath for the first time in a year.”

Comments are closed.