At the beginning of March, Split Creek Farm, a goat farm in Anderson County, South Carolina, supplied about 45 mostly high-end restaurants with bulk orders of goat milk, cheese and yogurt. Getting to that number was no small feat: Co-owners Sandra Coffman and Jessica Bell had spent years transforming the farm into a wholesale business in hopes of making it more financially stable. But just a couple of weeks later, all of the restaurants theyd built relationships with had closed their doors. None stayed open for takeout or delivery as quarantines took effect to stem the tide of the coronavirus , said Coffman, leaving Split Creek with just a handful of retail accounts that purchased small quantities of product from the farm for resale.

Our sales basically stopped overnight, Coffman said. One week the business received only a single payment, for $85.

Small businesses like Split Creek Farm typically defined by the government as businesses with under 500 employees have been hit hardest by the pandemic . Most have had to lay off workers and shut their doors in response to regional lockdowns, and as time goes on, many are facing the prospect of never reopening. According to a May report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, more than one in five said they are no more than two months away from permanently closing.