Marianne: A Bar Owner Facing Difficult Odds

Three weeks before St. Patrick’s Day, Marianne officially became the owner of The Deep Inn, a dive bar in New Jersey.

In 2019, business was booming. The Deep Inn had been featured on a list of New Jersey’s 10 best bars, and was attracting a steady stream of customers.

The business had always been a family affair. Marianne’s husband owned the business for 30 years before she took over, and one of her sons worked there as a bartender and also lived upstairs.

The Deep Inn was the epitome of a dive bar: they didn’t serve food and had just installed a tap system. Then COVID-19 hit.

“We closed down on March 16 at 8 o’clock,” Marianne said. “We’re a neighborhood Irish bar and we missed St. Patrick’s day. It’s been one heartache after another.”

A few days after what should have been one of their busiest nights of the year, Marianne had to throw away 75 pounds of meat.

Marianne was unable to offer a salary to her six part-time employees. She’s also been fighting with her insurance company, which is requiring her to keep paying even though the bar is closed.

“If I don’t pay there will be a lapse and they will double my insurance,” Marianne said. That’s not a price she can afford if she wants to re-open.

Marianne used a $500 emergency relief fund payment from Prudential and SaverLife to pay some of her vendors. Some of her employees were also able to get the grant. One employee, who had struggled to collect unemployment, used the funds to keep his apartment. Still, Marianne is not sure how much longer they can go on like this.

“We have exhausted everything we have. We’re living on a prayer,” Marianne said. “We’ve put everything we have into [the business].” 

She has continued to apply for grants, but some have taken months to respond or have mistakenly believed she was ineligible, and, as a small business owner, she’s not able to collect unemployment. 

Although New Jersey bars are now allowed to open at 25% capacity, The Deep Inn remains closed. 

“We’re a tavern,” Marianne said. “We’re a late night business. It’s not worth it to open for outdoor seating.” 

Not to mention, she doesn’t want to endanger her son, daughter-in-law and new baby who live upstairs in the building. Marianne hopes the government will offer expanded aid for small businesses soon, and that they’ll be able to re-open the bar soon. 

“In the last four years we have come from nothing and everything just stopped,” she said. “Overhead is just killing us.”