For restaurants Covid-19 was a crisis – pandemic loans are proving a disaster

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.