Linda and Michael Passaro own and operate Hawthorne’s Primo Amore, an Italian restaurant that hosted parties and banquets prior to the coronavirus pandemic which upended the restaurant industry.  In the days that followed, restaurants of all types had to rapidly reinvent themselves to stay afloat, offering take-out, delivery, and road-side pick up to reduce the amount of physical contact between patrons and staff.

Primo Amore continues to operate, but Linda told TAPinto Hawthorne that her business, like all restaurants, is facing huge struggles in light of COVID-19.  She was critical of the governmental response, saying that money promised to small businesses was unavailable, and that large restaurant firms had managed to take a chunk of the pie that would have otherwise helped the family owned operations which need it most.