Black Business Month Profile: Perry’s Joint in Pasadena Is a Story of Resilience In the Face of the Pandemic

After shutting down all operations during the first three weeks of the COVID-19- induced lockdown, Perry Bennett, owner of Perry’s Joint in Pasadena, was unsure about the future of his business.

“I thought I was going to have to go out and get a job, to tell you the truth,” Bennett said.

Thanks to Bennett’s smart maneuvers, the Black-owned local business was able to gradually adapt to the pandemic, and although now inflation is a new and major concern on the heels of COVID, Perry’s Joint is thriving again.

In hindsight, Bennett says he owes it all to the support from his loyal customers in Pasadena and Altadena. 

“It was devastating for the first two or three weeks. Like everyone else, I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said.

As he thought of ways to get through the pandemic and keep the business going, Bennett realized he was going to bank on the support of the community more than ever in order to survive. 

“I think people became socially aware that if the small businesses in the area that they cared about wasn’t supported, then they were going to go under,” he recalled. “I have to really give it up to the community of Altadena and Pasadena that came out and supported me wholeheartedly through the pandemic. It kept me alive.”

It was a challenging time for Bennett and his crew as he struggled to keep the business afloat, much like a ship’s captain in rough waters. 

Bennett said he needed to cut costs but he never considered ever letting his employees go. He said he would prefer to take the hit himself before ever doing that.  

“That’s going to be really devastating to them. They have families to take care of,” he said. “So I was really trying to maneuver and cut costs as much as I could, so I could continue to pay my employees and at the same time pay the bills and keep the business going.”

Bennett said he shrunk the menu to remove some items and changed the hours of operation.

“Before [the pandemic] I opened up early, at seven, eight o’clock. Now I start opening at 10 o’clock. I used to close at five, six o’clock. Now I close at four o’clock. I had to shorten my hours. You just have to adjust everywhere you can,” Bennett added.

“Business is different from before the pandemic, the consciousness of moving forward as a business, you can’t move the same way that you did before.”

He also faced the challenge of not getting enough financial support at a time when it was most needed – a challenge, he said, that many African American businesses have always had to contend with. 

“When you’re doing business as an African American, you’re usually last on the totem pole for whatever services, whatever help, whatever support,” Bennett said. “Usually, we are the last and we get the crumbs, but that’s usually the story of our existence.”

As COVID-19 restrictions begin easing up and more and more businesses are now opening up to in-person services, Perry’s Joint has to face the impact of inflation, which for Bennett has become more devastating than the pandemic.  

Citing a recent experience, he said turkey, a main ingredient in some of his sandwiches, was $2.69 a pound about three months ago; last week, he bought a case of turkey at $6.88 a pound.

“So we’re looking at a hundred plus percent increase,” Bennett said. “I can’t double my sandwiches, I can’t sell $22 sandwiches, so I’m taking a loss. It’s just difficult. Inflation has hurt us. The minimum wage has gone up, the cost of goods has gone up, the utilities everywhere across the board have gone up, and it’s hurt us and we are all scrambling trying to figure this part out.” 

Apart from making some adjustments to his business, Bennett had to raise prices in order to recover the increased production cost. 

“As a business owner, you don’t go into business to make work. You go into business to make a profit,” Bennett said. “And it’s just so difficult for us to constantly have to be in this space of making it work day in and day out. It can wear on you. But you think about the people that came before you, your ancestors. And you have to dig in from a deeper space and you think, ‘man, if they can make it through what they went through, I can make it through.’” 

That positivity, and the will to keep pushing, plus a loyal supportive customer base, will be crucial for Bennett and his crew at Perry’s Joint to keep serving the community. 

“I heard this a little while ago from someone who said, ‘man, in this world right now, if you don’t have hope, you don’t have much.’ And that’s how I feel about the future of black entrepreneurs here in Pasadena,” Bennett said. “I have to continue to believe and have hope that there is a promising future for young black entrepreneurs. That’s one of the reasons I’m here and I do what I do to be an example for the next generation.” 

Perry’s Joint is located at 2051 Lincoln Ave. in Pasadena.