Small Businesses Struggle to Plan for What Comes Next

Small Businesses Struggle to Plan for What Comes Next

For a Baltimore condiment maker with 100 workers, "it's been a roller coaster“ trying to plan for what comes next.

"I don't know what to expect,“ said Phil Tulkoff, whose Baltimore condiment company has been in family hands for 90 years.Credit...Andrew Mangum for The New York TimesJuly 16, 2020, 11:15 a.m. ET

Phil Tulkoff's family has owned a Baltimore condiment company for more than 90 years, and he's uneasy. Not because business at Tulkoff Food Products is bad “” he lived through that this spring “” but because it is suddenly good.

"I don't know what to expect,“ said Mr. Tulkoff, the company's president, who employs about 100 workers. "I watch the news and think it has to go down again.“

After a slump in April and May prompted a shutdown of three of four production lines at his factory near the Port of Baltimore, demand roared back in June as restaurants and retailers hungered for products like minced garlic, horseradish and cocktail sauce, which are among Tulkoff Food's most popular offerings.

Mr. Tulkoff is grateful for the rebound, but his apprehension is shared by thousands of other business owners: While sales have returned to healthy levels, the surge in coronavirus cases in many parts