Finding a New Strength: A Booth Graduate’s Road to Reopening Her Restaurant

In February 2020, a car crashed through the bar of Café Borgia, an Italian restaurant in Munster, Indiana. No one was severely hurt, says co-owner and Booth graduate Karen Jesso, ’89, and the restaurant stayed open. Then, the next month, all of Indiana’s bars and restaurants were ordered to shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Jesso silently hoped to herself that bad things didn’t actually come in threes, because what’s next?

Jesso felt worried. Café Borgia had been open since 1986 and nothing like this had ever happened. Easter, a big sales day, was coming—now, there’d be no Easter sales. And what about the staff of 35 people? But Jesso wanted to stay positive, to move forward. “We had to accept it,” she said. “This is reality now. Instead of fighting it, let’s make the best of it.”

First, Jesso told the staff that most of them would continue to work and receive their full salaries. All staff, even those temporarily furloughed, would have their health insurance paid for by the restaurant. Their salaries and insurance plans cost Jesso $45,000 every two weeks, but she feels fiercely loyal to her employees, many of whom have worked with her for decades. “If what’s going to keep us afloat is me pocketing their pay, we’re hanging on by a thread and we’re not going to make it,” Jesso said.

Starting the day after Café Borgia closed, Jesso and the staff worked through a list of things they couldn’t do while the restaurant was open. The staff—working six feet apart—carefully cleaned the restaurant’s $300,000 collection of Lotton lamps. They de-weeded the restaurant’s garden, preparing it to grow for the chef’s summer menu. They power-washed equipment, re-grouted the kitchen, and fixed the damage from the car crash.