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The business articles are supported by SEATTLE METROPOLITAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
VOL 39 NO 25 JUNE 20 – JUNE 26, 2020 FREE 38 YEARS YOUR VOICE
Michael Flor beats coronavirus, comes home in time for Father’s Day “This Father’s Day is a celebration of the second chance in life as a family.”
Photo by George Liu
Seattle Chamber of Commerce wields influence for small businesses By Mahlon Meyer NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
ernor’s Stay Home order, many restaurants closed and business was almost entirely delivery or takout. It has been one way for people to feed their families without the risk of leaving their home. Many third-party delivery providers also offered promotions to mitigate the financial burden on restaurants. Some operators get around using food delivery services by enlisting family members and relatives. With most of the staff laid off and the need for front-facing customer service eliminated, family members who may not be so great at
The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce scored a big win for local small businesses during a time of crisis. Its biggest victory was engaging with the Washington state Congressional delegation to ensure that the need for extending the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) was fully understood. As part of its most recent advocacy effort, the chamber was one of about a dozen signatories to a letter written to members of Congress to change the terms by which the PPP was supposed to be paid back. “The way the program was set up, small businesses needed to hire back most of their employees, but with reopening schedules, that was very hard,” said Alicia Teel, vice president of marketing and communications for the chamber. If businesses did not hire back all employees on schedule, they would be liable for repaying the entire amount of the loan, rather than having it forgiven. This could have driven many businesses into bankruptcy. “We advocated to extend the schedule,” she said. “The key is that they needed to meet that criteria for the loan to be forgiven, and it was very hard to meet that criteria with the original date.” The chamber, along with the other organizations, advocated at the local and federal level to change the deadline. In the end, Congress did extend the deadline until the end of the year and made other substantial changes to make the program easier on small businesses. Rep. Adam Smith, in an email to the Northwest Asian Weekly, said, “We value all the input we received from around the district, and always welcome feedback to ensure federal programs are working as intended for the community.” The passing of the new version, called the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act, on June 3, allowed small businesses much more time to rehire employees, and represented the biggest win for the broad coalition of advocates that included the chamber. Beyond this, the chamber has written letters to local and national leaders advocating for increased funding for small businesses weathering the coronavirus pandemic. Its advocacy work was in part spurred by the grim realizations revealed by a study it commissioned about the impact of the pandemic. The study, undertaken by Community Attributes, found that 40% of jobs would be impacted, mostly affecting low-income households with annual income of less than $38,000. It also found that small businesses downtown were highly dependent on Amazon, which had the highest workforce in the state, of 50,000. Each employee was ending an average of $25 per day, generating total daily revenue of $2.6 million for small businesses in the area. The state would be massively impacted, it predicted, since 71% of its budget comes from sales and gross
see SURVIVAL TIPS on 9
see SEATTLE CHAMBER on 4
Michael Flor and wife, Elisa Del Rosario
By Gayle Gupit Mayor NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Waiting anxiously at the hospital lobby of Swedish Issaquah, Beija Flor clutches a yellow sign with the handwritten words “BEST DAD EVER!”
Michael Flor finally emerges after a record-breaking 62 days in the hospital fighting COVID-19. He reunites with his wife, Elisa Del Rosario, and daughter Beija as applause erupts from the doctors, nurses, and caregivers. see FLOR on 12
Recipe for survival: What businesses are doing during the pandemic names in the news 2
Takeout orders spaced apart at Dough Zone
Jade Garden Restaurant customers waiting outside for their takeout orders
MATTHEW POLLY 5
BLOG 6
JAPANTOWN pictorial 8
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Only one in five restaurant owners say they are confident that they will be able to keep their businesses running until normal operations resume. That’s according to the results of a recent James Beard Foundation (JBF) survey. Independent operators, on average, have laid off 91% of their hourly workforce and nearly 70% of their salaried employees, according to the JBF’s survey of 1,400 restaurant owners in April. An informal survey of restaurant owners in Chinatown-International District revealed that most did what they had resisted before—signing up for all food delivery services just to get some money coming in. According to the website Yelp, food delivery orders doubled since the outbreak began. With the gov-
Photos by Assunta Ng
By Ruth Bayang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Dim Sum King rearranged furniture to facilitate social distacing
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