LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Two restaurants recently announced they are closing their doors in Germantown, the latest ones to open and then shut down since COVID-19.

The news comes on the heels of two other restaurants closing in Colonial Gardens over the past few months.

Many restaurant owners have talked about the struggles of staying open during the pandemic, including shutdowns, supply chain issues, worker shortages and rising costs.

Ryan Cohee is the owner of Red Top Hotdogs, which rolled out as a cart about a decade ago. A few years after transitioning to a food truck, he decided to chase his dream and open a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Logan Street.

But ever since the March 2020 COVID-related shutdown, his dream has been a nightmare.

“It’s the overhead (cost). It’s not being able to find anyone (to work). It’s all the insurances,” Cohee said.

He held onto the spot, but decided to pivot. He resurrected the brick-and-mortar’s former name, Keswick, and moved the hot dog business back to the food truck.

“By closing the dining room, and turning it into a bar, I cut my staff into about a third of what it used to be,” Cohee said.

Colonial Gardens, Fourth Street Live, Bardstown Road, and Goss Avenue are just a few Louisville hot spots recently hit by closures. No corner of the city, or quality of restaurant, is immune from shutting down.

Some business owners have survived, and a few, including Parlour Pizza, have actually expanded. They just announced the future opening of a location in Jeffersontown. Their other locations are in Jeffersonville, New Albany, Frankfort Avenue, and downtown Louisville.

“Downtown was tough at first. Right after COVID,” Parlour CEO Don Robinson said.

But Robinson said as conventions have returned, the bar has filled up.

“COVID really taught us to act quickly and adjust on the fly,” Robinson said.

He said that important lesson is followed by another; to focus on what keeps customers coming back.

“There’s a reason that our tagline is ‘people, pizza, pints,’ and ‘people’ is first,” Robinson said.

People are the reason Silly Axe Cafe is still open. Customers helped the owner, Angela Pike, with donations to keep the doors open last year. But the family was forced to move away from their Bardstown Road location to save on rent.

“I think it hurt me the most, you know, seeing her dream fall through a little bit,” Angela’s son, Conner Pike, said. “But I think that moving to Logan Street and having this was the best thing for us, and our family, and our business.”

Like many restaurants, the family business has also adjusted hours, and days of operation to keep serving.

“Food is medicine, food is medicine,” Pike said.

Next door to the Silly Axe, there’s a new business moving in. And another person looking to achieve a dream.

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