San Bernardino restaurant, Corona hair salon get a boost from the Barstool Fund

January 8, 2021 LawsonRealtyGroup Real Estate News 0



Somebody on the East Coast cares about small businesses in San Bernardino.

That is the conclusion of Michael Montano, co-owner of Mitla Cafe, after the 87-year-old neighborhood hangout became a beneficiary of The Barstool Fund.

The fund was set up to help businesses that are struggling because of the novel coronavirus by entrepreneur David Portnoy, founder of the New York-based sports media company Barstool Sports. Portnoy put up $500,000 in seed money that has grown to nearly $18 million through other donors, including Kid Rock, who pitched in $100,000, according to his Facebook page.

The Barstool Fund was set up in mid-December and has funded 64 businesses to date, including the Princeton Co., a salon in the Shops at Dos Lagos in Corona.

Owner Brittanie Costa said she was a Barstool Sports fan and a small donor to the Barstool Fund before she became an applicant.

“I just thought what they were doing was so amazing. If it cost me a cup of coffee, then so be it. That cup of coffee could change a life.”

“I didn’t want a handout, but honestly I looked on it as a grant,” she said in a phone interview.

She sent in an email explaining the difficulties of having to pay rent with a closed business, and then was invited to submit a video telling her story, which included the loss of twin sons in a difficult pregnancy three weeks before their due date and how opening the salon helped her cope with her grief.

“I think they wanted a video so people could feel the emotions,” she said.

A few days later, she got a cold call from Portnoy on FaceTime.

“I couldn’t believe it. I froze. I was shaking. I could not believe it was real and he cared.”

Costa said she has already gotten a payment from the fund and that her case would be evaluated on a month-to-month basis for as long as she needs help.

Montano, also a Bartstool Sports fan,  had a similar experience with a surprised FaceTime call.

“We applied on New Year’s Eve in the afternoon. About 24 hours later I was watching the Rose Bowl and I was getting a FaceTime call from an area code I had no idea where it was. I answered it. It was him. About a 25 hour turnaround time, if that.”

Margarita Nepomuceno (left) rolls freshly made homemade flour tortillas as Veronica De La Paz (right) creates corn tortillas at Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino in October. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)The Barstool Fund put up a video of the Facetime encounter that Mitla Cafe linked to on Facebook.

Montano said the strategy for using the funds is simple.

“It means we stay in business.”

Montano said even with a second round of stimulus money coming from Washington, small businesses go into debt waiting for help, and the Barstool Fund will help Mitla Cafe avoid that.

He described the restaurant as part of the fabric of the west side of San Bernardino.

“We’ve been a fixture where people can come and meet and feel like you’re in somebody’s house.”

That’s not possible right now with in-person restaurant dining banned in most of the state. But he said that on top of the ban, many of his regulars are hurting financially because of the pandemic as well.

“There’s people out there who have lost jobs or a measure of income, and going out to eat is now something they can do regularly anymore.”

Information: barstoolsports.com/the-barstool-fund



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