{"id":49522,"date":"2021-01-04T23:32:06","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T06:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/media-mogul-offers-helping-hand-to-durango-diner\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:47:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:47:34","slug":"media-mogul-offers-helping-hand-to-durango-diner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/media-mogul-offers-helping-hand-to-durango-diner\/","title":{"rendered":"Media mogul offers helping hand to Durango Diner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Gary
Gary Broad handles kitchen duties Monday at Durango Diner. The diner, owned by Gary and Donna Broad, has been chosen for funding to help it get through the COVID-19 pandemic by the Barstool Fund set up by media entrepreneur Dave Portnoy.<\/span>Patrick Armijo\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Like restaurants across the country, 2020 has been tough on Durango Diner, but the iconic Southwest Colorado breakfast cafe got some good news with the new year.<\/p>\n

Durango Diner was chosen by media entrepreneur Dave Portnoy for funding through his Barstool Fund<\/a>, which he\u2019s started to help small businesses across the country endure business restrictions required by public health orders issued to limit transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The diner, owned by Gary and Donna Broad, is now one of 73 small, independently owned small businesses chosen for funding via Portnoy\u2019s new fund, which had collected $16.93 million and had 138,798 donors as of Monday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely amazing to finally have somebody understand and care about what small businesses have gone through in this last year,\u201d said Donna Broad. \u201cIt\u2019s been a whole year almost. And it\u2019s about time that we get some recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

As COVID-19 transmissions in La Plata County spiked in fall, Durango Diner was forced to close Nov. 19, and it remained closed for slightly more than a month before reopening, initially for to-go orders only.<\/p>\n

Recently, it has been accepted under the 5-Star Certification Variance Program. It currently can seat 14 people in its 50-seat dining area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were closed for so long, and then with just to-go orders we\u2019re doing about 25%, and you don\u2019t do very well at that rate. You don\u2019t make money if you don\u2019t get enough volume,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Assistance through the Barstool Fund will be especially helpful for Durango Diner\u2019s employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get everybody hours,\u201d Broad said. \u201cYou know, we\u2019re spreading it out. Nobody is here as much as in the summer or a normal year, but we\u2019re trying to get them some help, and with the Barstool Fund, believe me, we\u2019ll be sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a video describing the Barstool Fund<\/a>, Portnoy said he intends to issue monthly checks for businesses selected for funding to cover their expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach month we\u2019ll continue to cut you a check to stay in business until this thing is over. What good does it do to help you for two months and go out of business the next month? It doesn\u2019t,\u201d he said in the video.<\/p>\n

The only rule for a small business to apply for assistance from the fund is that it is still paying its employees.<\/p>\n

Broad, who said she is a fan of Portnoy\u2019s podcast, \u201cThe Dave Portnoy Show with Eddie & Co.,\u201d heard about the Barstool Fund in a news report.<\/p>\n

About a week after submitting her request for assistance, she heard from Portnoy, informing her the diner had been selected for funding.<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Portnoy helps restaurant endure financial bite of COVID-19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[338,685,13,28,29,450],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-enterprises","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-restaurant-and-catering"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87599,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49522\/revisions\/87599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49522"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}