First, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered New York City’s restaurants and bars. Then, the virus came for the suppliers, too.

In early April, one of the butchers at Master Purveyors, which normally supplies meat to restaurants like Pastis, Veronika, and Cote Korean Steakhouse, called his manager. He could barely breathe. Two of the team members that he had driven to work a few days earlier were also starting to feel symptoms of COVID-19. It was the kind of rapidly spreading illness