Head of U.S. Small Business Administration visits Pittsburgh restaurant

Cilantro & Ajo, a modest Venezuelan restaurant on the South Side, might seem an unlikely poster child for the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). However camera crews from all three Pittsburgh-area TV news stations and others descended on the small eatery Friday morning.

The attraction was an appearance by Jovita Carranza, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration and advocate for America’s 31 million small businesses. Carranza was checking out one of the success stories emerging from the PPP, the federal government support program for businesses diminished in the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 173,000 loans totaling nearly $21 billion have been provided to Pennsylvania small business owners through the PPP. But behind the numbers are people like Cilantro & Ajo owner Marlyn Parra, who opened her restaurant two years ago and might not be here had it not been for the PPP.

“We’ve been living in a bubble and I wanted to get out and visit with people like the ones who are running this restaurant,” said Carranza, based in Washington, D.C.

Speaking Spanish with Parra behind the counter, Carranza, wearing a mask, toured the kitchen area and spoke with restaurant employees, many of whom still had jobs thanks to the PPP, Carranza said.

“The Paycheck Protection Program has served as a real lifeline and a bridge. Many of the businesses I’ve visited today and throughout the United States have stated that had they not received that financial lifeline, they probably would not have been able to bring back their employees, or retain their employees and their wages,” said Carranza.

Parra said that was certainly the case for her.

Parra opened her restaurant on East Carson Street, after leaving her home on Margarita Island, a part of Venezuela that lies in the Caribbean Sea. She and her husband, Anthony Goncalves, the chef of Cilantro & Ajo, enjoyed success after finding that Pittsburghers had a taste for the deep-fried arepas, filled with beef, chicken, pork or ham and cheese, and empanadas, filled with chorizo or black beans and cheese.

But then the pandemic hit. Parra had to lay off all of her employees, including other cooks and wait staff, leaving just her and her husband to run the entire restaurant.

“To face the (pandemic) has been hard for us because our business is a new thing,” said Parra. “It was just my husband and me, cooking and answering the phone and everything.

“It looked like it would be hard to stay in business because we need the whole team to be able to do our best. When we got the PPP money in May, I was able to call the employees and bring everybody back. And we’re getting through all this.”

Carranza said stories like Parra’s are among the many she has heard during her travels throughout the country. “Every one of them said they don’t know what they would have done if they had to go into their personal savings. Or, when the business would rebound, would they have the resources in place to go forward with their business plan? Many of them, with tears in their eyes, said, ‘I don’t know what we would have done without this money.’ ”

Carranza said many businesses are anticipating the next wave of PPP after the first round ended last Saturday. There is over $130 billion remaining, according to Carranza.

“They’re positioned to take advantage of the next round. However, there are businesses that say, ‘We’ve got great momentum, we’re hiring new employees and unless this pandemic extends beyond this year, we’re pretty well established now.’ ”

Western Pennsylvania district SBA director Kelly Hunt said that while the pandemic has been hard on many of the area’s restaurants, she was glad Carranza was seeing that places like Cilantro & Ajo are managing.

“These mandates of 25% capacity and things like that have been really hard on our restaurant industry. So, having this stop on her tour and being able to talk to a restaurant owner to see how she’s coping and maintaining revenue is a good thing,” said Hunt.

Carranza was also scheduled to host a roundtable Friday afternoon with small businesses and area business leaders and lenders.