Mattina Cafe In New Lenox Reopens For Pick-Up, Delivery

Andrea Earnest
Updated ·2 min read

NEW LENOX, IL — When Gov. J.B. Pritzker first closed nonessential businesses on March 21, many restaurants were able to adjust operations and utilize delivery or pick-up options, but some businesses closed completely. After just over a month being closed, Mattina Cafe in New Lenox reopened April 22 for pick-up as well as delivery through DoorDash and UberEats.

Feras Salman has been the owner of Mattina Cafe, 280 E. Lincoln Highway, since 2017, and also owns Royalberry Waffle House in Palos Heights.

Salman was able to keep his Palos Heights restaurant open since March, but was forced to close Mattina Cafe for several weeks.

"Depending on how much staff you have, it's not feasible to keep everyone going," Salman said. However, Salman was able successfully apply for the paycheck protection program through the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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The paycheck protection program is a loan designed to help small businesses keep their workers on the payroll, according to the Small Business Administration website. The loan is forgiven if employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and if money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage or utilities.

Salman said the process was "simple" and it was a way for him to help his employees during this time. Once he got the funding from the government, he said he was able to hire back the Mattina Cafe employees.

With more resources available, Salman was able to open Mattina Cafe back up in late April.

"Since we were closed for so long, people don't know we're open again," Salman said, adding that business has been less than 20 percent what it normally is.

Salman said the restaurant has been cleaned and sanitized while it was closed, and extensive cleaning also takes place every day.

The New Lenox cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day, and is only accepting credit cards at this time. You can call 815-463-9223 to order or order online. The restaurant offers breakfast items like pancakes, crepes, waffles, omelets as well as salads and sandwiches.

So far, over 40 of New Lenox's small local businesses have filled out Patch's simple online survey to let everyone know they are open and their current hours of operations during the coronavirus outbreak.

If you still want to add your business to Patch's list of open and closed businesses, you can do so here.

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This article originally appeared on the New Lenox Patch