Pandemi Covid-19 telah menyebabkan kondisi krisis yang berkepanjangan bagi para pedagang warung makan dan minum pinggir jalan. Mereka menghadapi krisis finansial yang disebabkan penurunan omset drastis. Mereka juga mengalami beberapa hambatan lain sebagai efek domino dari kebijakan pembatasan sosial yang dicetuskan pemerintah. Sebagian besar pedagang terpaksa menutup warung, bahkan gulung tikar. Sebagian lainnya berusaha mempertahankan usahanya sepanjang pandemi agar dapat tetap hidup. Tulisan ini membahas tentang keterlekatan sosial pedagang warung dan ikatan-ikatan sosial mereka berperan di tengah upaya bertahan tersebut. Penelitian ini menggunakan kasus tenant atau penyewa lapak di Kantin Mangga Besar IX dengan pengumpulan data melalui teknik observasi partisipasi dan wawancara mendalam. Saya menemukan bahwa kemampuan tolong-menolong di antara tenant, yang memiliki ikatan kuat (strong ties), justru melemah di masa pandemi ini. Oleh karena kesulitan yang sama, mereka terhambat untuk membantu satu sama lain. Kemampuan dan kesempatan bertahan tenant justru diperoleh dari kenalan-kenalan yang menjalin ikatan lemah (weak ties) dengan mereka.

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The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a prolonged crisis condition for roadside food stall vendors. They are facing an income, thus financial crisis marked by drastic decline in turnover. They also experienced several other obstacles as a domino effect of the Indonesian government's large-scale social distancing policy. Most of the vendors opted to close their stalls, even went out of business. Some others have been struggling to keep their business going throughout the pandemic in hope for survival. On this paper, I discuss how social embeddedness and social ties of food stall vendors play roles in the midst of the survival effort. This study uses the case of tenants of Kantin Mangga Besar IX with participation observatory and in-depth interviews to collect data. I found that the ability to mutually assist among tenants, which they have strong ties to each others, has been weakened during Covid-19 pandemic. Because of the same predicament, they were hindered to help each others. Tenants' survival ability and opportunity are instead obtained from several acquaintances with whom they share weak ties.