Coronavirus Palm Beach County updates: Some entrepreneurs are especially blind-sided by the pandemic’s throttling of the U.S. economy: Those who opened for business only within the last year.

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JUNO BEACH — Since opening The Malted Barley last September, Donald Kehl kept tinkering with his business.

He learned its quirks. The craft beer-oriented restaurant didn’t attract a ton of walk-in traffic on U.S. 1, so Kehl started taking out ads. He planned events, things like tap takeovers and trivia on Mondays, to draw more patrons.

It started to pay off. The Malted Barley was breaking even and making a bit of cash in recent months, he said.

Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit. Backed into a corner, Kehl laid off his staff of nearly 25 and on March 20 closed the restaurant until further notice.

“It’s just mind-boggling that this happens,” said Kehl, the co-franchisee with wife Susan Kehl. “We’re five and a half, six months into it and all of a sudden we get this once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing happening.”

Kehl is among the Palm Beach County entrepreneurs especially blind-sided by the pandemic’s throttling of the U.S. economy: Those who opened for business only within the last year.

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One of the most glaring challenges of running a new business amid the pandemic is pure math, said Joseph Russo, who works with tech startups and other new businesses through the nonprofit he leads, Palm Beach Tech, and its 1909 initiative, a business accelerator and co-working space in West Palm Beach.

“Any company, any organization, you want to build up reserves over time,“ Russo said.

For those businesses staying open under various government orders, Russo said now is the time to adapt.

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“What I’ve been telling people is, ’Understand where your customers are at,’” he said. “And you have to be able to reach them.”

That’s what co-owner Chris Johncke is trying to do at Johan’s Joe.

The Swedish-style cafe opened its second location about nine months ago on Northlake Boulevard.

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Now it’s suffering from a 50% to 60% dip in sales at its Palm Beach Gardens location, Johncke said. So he’s added takeout and delivery options and wants to tack an online ordering feature to the website.

“This has really thrown a wrench in our business, because we had a model that worked, and now we’re having to change it all and re-figure it out,” Johncke said in an email.

Both Johncke and Kehl expressed some frustration over the state of government aid available to small businesses.

Johncke, who also owns iFixYouri, a computer, tablet and phone repair business with four Palm Beach County locations, applied for multiple loans through the Small Business Administration. By Wednesday, he’d heard next to nothing about his applications.

“Without making anything political, being left in the dark, makes things even more challenging,” he said. “We’re not looking for handouts, we’re just looking to keep people with paychecks coming so that we all can pay our bills.”

Off Indiantown Road, Courtney Rooney is still trying to plug away as usual at Woof Gang Bakery and Grooming Jupiter Farms. Business seems to still be pretty reliable, Rooney said last week.

“We’re fortunate that we’re essentially a grocery store for pets,“ said Rooney, the franchise’s co-owner.

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Like Johncke, she’s added pickup and delivery options for customers. Woof Gang is doing a bit more advertising on Facebook these days, too.

Rooney is trying to stay positive. If not, she’ll dwell on the situation too much, she said.

“It is my investment,” she said. “There’s definitely money invested in it and it’s only, what, six months old now? This could be really hard.“

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Russo pointed out that he sees some advantages in running a relatively new business these days.

For instance, he said many new entrepreneurs are using technology that’s more resilient than legacy bookkeeping and management techniques.

Russo also suggests new business owners try to negotiate wiggle room with banks and investors.

That’s along the lines of what Kehl is trying to do.

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He negotiated some extra time to pay for Malted Barley radio ads and said last week that it might be worth a shot trying to work out suspending some of his rent payment. Without payroll, that’s his biggest expense these days.

For now, Kehl said he’s in wait-and-see mode.

He tries to run every day and sleep well, focusing on keeping the restaurant in workable condition and connecting his old employees to financial assistance. He recently applied for government unemployment benefits himself.

There are plenty of hurdles to clear, but Kehl said he’s committed to getting The Malted Barley up and running again.

“I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t have my steel will and fortitude. ... When somebody taps me on the shoulder or grabs my arm and says ’Enough already,’ (then I’ll say) ’OK now what’s next?’”

showard@pbpost.com

@SamuelHHoward