PEORIA, Ill. – Are local businesses recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic? Yes, and no.
That’s according to Greater Peoria Economic Development Council CEO Chris Setti, who tells WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show” a big problem continues to be a lack of employees.
“I talked to a restaurant a couple weeks ago…they were kind of half-full, but not because they didn’t have clients or customers coming. It’s because they didn’t have enough wait staff. So, they didn’t want their customers to have a bad experience,” said Setti.
But, Setti says just how much of a recovery there is depends business-to-business. He believes, for example, the local manufacturing is in somewhat of a good spot.
“We talked to some folks at Quality Metals and Kemp Manufacturing and Morton Industries and a few others…talking about how busy they are with work,” said Setti. “Of course, they are also struggling to get employees in.”
Setti says there is still money available for small businesses needing help. This is the last week to apply for state “Back 2 Business” grants. The deadline is the close of business Wednesday.
