Fred Bush cut across the failing pizzeria and headed behind the counter where a hulking oven idled in the pre-lunchtime gloom. He opened its door and peered inside.
“That is the stone where you put the pizza,” he explained. “You want to check to make sure the stones aren’t broken.”
As Bush inspected the Inland Empire restaurant’s equipment — a mixer, meat slicer and more — the owner explained why he planned to close the pizzeria.
Like so many other Southland restaurateurs who’ve struggled in recent years , his business had been bludgeoned by an array of issues: delivery service commissions cut into revenue, diners were spending less, good employees departed for better-paying jobs, and the landlord of the outdoor shopping center where he’d operated since 2019 wouldn’t renegotiate the lease.
The man, who asked that he and his restaurant not be identified over privacy concerns, said he was working seven days a week, handling everything from cooking to deliveries, but was not turning a profit.