Mincho Ko is cooking up one of her signature items: eggs mixed with vegetables, later combined with cheese and bacon. It’s one of the many things she whips up daily at Son of Egg in Albany.

She and her son Justin have been serving Korean dishes over the last eight months in Albany. They opened a month after the pandemic started.

The mother-son duo says it hasn’t been easy, but it’s been a pleasure to see it grow. Justin Ko says they have regulars now, and social media has helped spread the word on their restaurant.

“We’ve been trying to develop our menu in a way that we can adhere to the gluten-free people, the vegan people, the vegetarians,” Justin said.

It’s one of several businesses that opened in this challenging year and have been able to weather the storm so far.

In Schenectady, deliveries through Grubhub and Doordash have helped Frank Brown continuously serving Jamaican dishes.

“We’re just blessed to be in this business right now at this time,” Brown said.

He opened Frank’s Caribbean Fire Grill during the summer, fulfilling a lifelong dream of his. The pandemic has been challenging, with price of some supplies increasing. But co-owner Josh Miller says the business is surviving so far.

“Every morning, we’re here trying to make sure we got everything for the customers; for the people,” Miller said.

He believes they’ll be able to make through these difficult upcoming months, even if there are more restrictions. Miller also says they’re already doing just take-outs and deliveries.

The Kos are already feeling the effects when college students left for the semester. But they’re optimistic, since they opened during the pandemic. They say people in the area have been supportive.