Hours after reopening her shop, 48-year-old Zhang Qunying can count the number of customers she served on one hand. "From 10 in the morning till now – about 2 in the afternoon, we only served five people," she said.

"There are too few people now. I don't dare to switch on the big stove, it takes up too much oil and is too wasteful. We only use the small fire," Zhang added with a chuckle, lightening up the mood as we spoke.

Zhang's stall is just one of the hundreds along Jianshe Road in Chengdu, China's southwest Sichuan Province. Located just beside the temporarily-closed University of Electronic Science and Technology, the lane is well known for its delicious and affordable street foods.

Stalls along Jianshe Road have gradually reopened since the end of February when the public emergency level in Sichuan fell from Level 1 to Level 2.

On March 5, Zhang's first day back in business, she made just 200 yuan (29 U.S. dollars) in sales – just 10 percent of what her usual gains. "We normally need to and can make 2,000 to 3,000 yuan a day, to make profits," she told CGTN.

"In the over 40 days that we closed shop, we lost about 50,000 to 60,000 yuan (in cash). That's because we still had to pay rent, social security, medical insurance, and our living expenses," Zhang said.

"Now, we don't dare to ask our staff members to return to work. Not unless there are more customers."

Zhang's situation isn't unique.

Tang Ning, 29, along with his wife, were one of the earliest to resume business on February 26.

"My wife is pregnant. Initially we planned to buy a more comfortable home to live with our baby, but because of the epidemic, our stores (across the city) were closed and we lost tens of thousands yuan," he said.

"Now we are hoping to use our cash and savings to lower our business risks, so we are no longer considering buying a new house now."

The young husband and wife said resuming business is almost a "must" despite only making 1,000 yuan a day on average now. "We have to recover our losses."

When asked, owners of the food stalls said they don't enjoy any preferential policies due to the epidemic.

But Tang Ning doesn't seem too deterred.

"My biggest hope from the government is that they'd protect those on the front line, so that they can do all they can to control the epidemic. Having the epidemic under control is the biggest help the country can give to us micro and small businesses."

His wife, Yuan Hui, said she felt anxious when calculating their losses. But her perspective changed after her younger brother, who's in the military, got called to Wuhan to help out half a month ago.

"I thought, even if I earned more money, what's the point? I only hope my brother can come home soon, and that the epidemic ends sooner," she said.

"Money can be earned back slowly. But the health of my brother, and that of other frontline staff, is even more important."

Meanwhile, for Zhang and her husband, this one store along Jianshe Road represents their only source of income.

"If we don't resume business, we have zero income and have to continue eating into our savings. At least now by opening our doors back, we sell what we can, and can temporarily cover our daily living expenses," she said.

She said she only has enough cash flow to last for two months tops.

"If the epidemic continues, we don't know how to face it. To find another alternative business, or job, is hard, because people can't come out to mingle."

When asked if she would sell her food online, just like other F&B businesses have done amid the epidemic, she said no, as "food like ours is best enjoyed quickly."

The reopening of these stalls comes with a set of prevention and control measures.

The district's urban management bureau conducts daily checks on these stalls, monitoring the body temperature of the staff and disinfection records and ensuring crowd control.

Liu Yang, team leader of Mengzhuiwan Urban Management, said for stalls to reopen, staff members are required to present a green card from their residential community, indicating they have spent 14 days in isolation if they had returned from out of town.

"They also need to present a health examination certificate, before we issue them a work resumption permit. Thus far, we have asked at least three stores to suspend operations because of non-compliance."

(Video filmed by Zhang Kai)