Husband-wife team Anisa and Michele Iuliano, owners of seven full-service Italian restaurants in New York City, planned to open a new eatery in Manhattan’s Financial District in April. The buildout was almost complete when everything came to a screeching halt in March.

As the pandemic wore on, Anisa realized that the original plan to create a sister concept to Gnoccheria, the couple’s Napoletana eatery, wouldn’t fly. With capacity restrictions probably extending until the end of the year and the neighborhood’s young professionals fleeing the city, the financials couldn’t work.