OPINION OF HARRY HURLEY – EDITORIAL
My colleague Mike Gill wrote a very important article about the closure of a legendary local restaurant in Atlantic City (at least temporarily) after more than 43 years.
If you missed Mike’s great work, here’s a link to his coverage:
Read more: Popular restaurant in Atlantic City, NJ closed until further notice
I continue with my thoughts on this as it is a case study of how broken America is right now.
Los Amigos, a Mexican-style restaurant, has been able to operate successfully since Jimmy Carter was President of the United States in 1979.
The Atlantic City region has suffered from multiple recessions, a Great Recession; which had the highest unemployment and foreclosure rates in America, right here in Atlantic City.
Not to mention the super storm of 2012, Hurricane Sandy, the permanent closure of 4 Atlantic City casinos and record high gas prices.
Los Amigos has been a popular Mexican-style restaurant for generations.
They were able to continue operating through all of the major challenges we listed above.
Yet (at least for now) they can’t function in this age of runaway inflation, staffing issues and a broken supply chain.
Think about it. This beautiful local establishment has successfully met all challenges over the past 43 years.
This demonstrates the scale of the growing problems facing business owners across America.
Here’s how Los Amigos broke the news:
We are sorry to say that Los Amigos will be closed until further notice due to weak labor market conditions, exorbitant food costs, and fuel and energy costs. We would like to thank all our customers and former employees who have supported us since our opening in 1979. We wish you all the best.
We hope this is only a short-term event and that Los Amigos can reopen when things calm down.
The legendary Sack-O-Subs in Ventnor, another Mike Gill story, had a happy ending and is able to reopen.
We want the same for Los Amigos in Atlantic City.