Happy New Year everyone. 2020 is over, which is reason for hope. (goodbye wretched year!) Yet there is still great uncertainty. Even as we look forward to spring, we first have to survive the winter. Survival, on a community level, means coming together and helping the most vulnerable among us.
Many of us are now receiving stimulus checks. For some, the checks will arrive just in the nick of time. For others, the check will sit in our bank account. If you are in the latter category, CONSIDER DONATING YOUR STIMULUS CHECK. Make a gift to an organization that helps those who are homeless, hungry, or sick. That is my plan personally.
Here is my suggested list of recipient organizations in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti:
- Shelter Association of Washtenaw County
You may have a different favorite organization -- please, just give to it.
Now for an update on the restaurant:
It’s been about 6 weeks without a staff COVID case. No one is currently in quarantine. We have adopted stringent safety protocols regarding social distancing and mask wearing, both in the restaurant and off the clock. Our team is disciplined, lean and focused -- and at present our systems are working. Barring unforeseen developments (knock on wood), the plan is to continue doing what we are doing through the winter. Then, hopefully, we will make it intact to the time when we can get back to full functionality.
The cornerstone of our winter business plan is to continually crank out new and delicious food and drink items, and to keep YOU interested. A constant stream of specials and new concepts flows from the kitchen and the bar. No fewer than 12 staff members are involved in this process. From pot pies to bubble tea, from stromboli to mango habañero cauliflower wings, staff members develop ideas and bring them to fruition. Their motivation amazes me and fills me with hope and gratitude.
Our financial situation is ok – not great but not grim. There is very little fat to trim, but we are staying one step ahead of our bills. The business has made strides toward recovery after having been thrown for a loop in November – when we paid over a dozen staff members to quarantine for two weeks, and simultaneously lost sales from three days (from shutting down for cleaning and re-grouping).
Somehow we managed to end the year a little in the black, and even were able to donate to the community:
Our Community Aid program to displaced service industry workers continues. Donated meals and groceries totaled $22,016 in 2020. Our business also made donations adding up to $6,841, collectively, to Peace Neighborhood Center, Detroit Justice Center, United Negro College Fund, World Health Organization, Al Otro Lado (helping migrants and refugees at the border), Dawn Farms, Packard Health Center, and assistance to individuals.
We recently received good news that our $20,000 PPP loan, issued in the spring is being forgiven – since we spent the entire sum on payroll (the sum covered about half of one payroll cost at a time when we really needed it). But we also just learned that our $10,000 SBA grant, received in April, has been converted to a loan that must be re-paid starting this month. It’s hard to complain when you’ve been given $20k for free, but if our situation were just a little more precarious that $10k repayment would be very difficult to swallow. It makes me wonder about other businesses in worse situations, and how they will handle any re-payment at this time.
Looking ahead: We continue to make plans for our newly leased space next door, at Catherine & Fifth Ave. Still to be formally named, staff members affectionately call it the “Chillin’ Station.” We are now using it for storage and for staff meal breaks. An architect is helping us with design and building plans to hopefully create a magical, intimate live-music venue in the future. Funding for the project is, well, unknown at this point. But that is a challenge to be worked out another day!
A “feelings” check in:
There are a whole lot of feelings zinging around these days. I have them, our staff has them, and I’m sure you have them. They are more plentiful, more complicated, and more challenging than they used to be. Here at the restaurant, we experience ups & downs as individuals and collectively. Never before have I felt such a close connection with 30+ others. Joy, sadness, and frustration are shared. When one feels it, we all feel it. If the mood becomes too serious, someone gets goofy and brings the rest of us back around.
The stark reality of the COVID era is that, as a society, we’ve never been so connected and yet we’ve never been so isloated. Together but alone. Alone but together. We have a shared experience of fear and trepidation that we can only somewhat share. We can talk to our loved ones – but we can’t hug our friends, we can’t see each others’ faces for the masks, and we can’t relax and enjoy one another’s company. Each of us is going through this pandemic in our own way, hurtling into the unknown with no guiding star.
I went for a night hike with friends on New Year’s Eve. Studying the river in the moonlight, it struck me: this picture is what life feels like these days. Nothing is clear and illuminated; everything is shrouded in shadows, fog and doubt. Decisions are unclear. The future is unpredictable. Stark colors have been replaced by shades of gray.
It is my hope that a positive outcome of the pandemic era will be to reaffirm our humanity. We can do that by taking care of the most vulnerable among us, and thereby nourishing our own souls. So, I leave you with this: Love and sustain yourselves and one another. And donate that stimulus check if you don’t need it.