U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, right, talks with Anna Llanos, owner of Mothership on Main, on Tuesday morning. Blumenthal was there to talk with Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. Baker Gillian Cuddy works behind them. January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, left, stops to look at an old issue of Life magazine during a visit with Anna Llanos, owner of Mothership on Main restaurant. Blumenthal talked with Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. Tuesday morning, January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal visits with Anna Llanos,left, owner of Mothership on Main restaurant. Blumenthal talked with Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. Tuesday morning, January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, right, visits with Anna Llanos, owner of Mothership on Main restaurant. Blumenthal talked with Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. Tuesday morning, January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
Mothership on Main baker Gillian Cuddy measures out ingredients for brioche at the restaurant on Tuesday morning. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal visited the restaurant to talk with owner Anna Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal stops to look at an old issue of Life magazine during a visit to Mothership on Main restaurant. Blumenthal talked with owner with Anna Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. Tuesday morning, January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal visits with Anna Llanos, owner of Mothership on Main restaurant. They are looking at photographs from Danbury's past that are hanging on the walls. Tuesday morning, January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, left, visits with Anna Llanos, owner of Mothership on Main restaurant. Blumenthal talked with Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. Tuesday morning, January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, left, visits with Anna Llanos, owner of Mothership on Main restaurant. Blumenthal talked with Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. Tuesday morning, January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, left, talks with Anna Llanos, owner of Mothership on Main, and baker Gillian Cuddy on Tuesday morning. Blumenthal was there to talk with Llanos about her small business and the Paycheck Protection Program. Tuesday morning, January 5, 20201, in Danbury, Conn.
DANBURY — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal didn’t drop by Mothership on Main for the avocado toast or the Red Hot Mama — a breakfast wrap with short ribs, sweet potatoes, gruyere cheese and hot sauce.
Blumenthal was interested how the downtown Danbury eatery was surviving the 11th month of the coronavirus pandemic, and whether a new round of federal COVID-19 relief for small businesses known as the Paycheck Protection Program would make a difference.
“Important isn’t even the word for PPP,” said Mothership owner Anna Llanos, after Blumenthal’s Tuesday visit. “It’s a lifeline.”
Llanos showed Blumenthal around her Main Street restaurant, where business is down 30 to 40 percent of where it was a year ago.
In return, Blumenthal answered Llanos’ questions about the $900 billion federal stimulus bill, known as the CARES Act 2 — which President Donald Trump signed last week.
The bill is expected to bring as much as $9 billion to Connecticut — about $3 billion of which would be loaned to small businesses like Mothership to keep workers on the payroll.
Llanos said she would not have stayed in business this long without federal aid from the first CARES Act last spring, which provided $44,000 to keep Mothership workers employed and the rent paid when businesses were temporarily shut down.
Llanos has yet to apply for the new round of PPP loans.
Mothership is on track to be one of the success stories. Llanos is planning to expand Mothership’s hours for dinner and drinks three nights a week before the end of the month, she said.
By Valentine’s Day, Llanos plans to open a restaurant with Japanese and Latin cuisine at the vacant storefront a few doors down, formerly rented by Subway at Main and Crosby streets.
