Katherine’s Story

Katherine Anderson, The London Plane
Seattle, WA

My restaurant and flower shop has always been a labor of love, operating on tight margins since the very start. We had a good start to the year, but all that’s been wiped out. Who knows how much more will be before this is all over. Fortunately, for the time being we have the resources to keep the doors open, but I’m not sure for how long. This is something I’ve never seen before. 

In mid-March we closed our doors to dine-in guests as mandated. We are paying our employees through the end of the week. We’re not sure what comes next. We’re looking at a delivery option, but we’re not set up with any service and it’s not easy to set up right away. We’re looking into every option to stay open while still protecting our employees.

There is so much uncertainty and anxiety for workers in the service industry. The unemployment system is showing signs of becoming overwhelmed. I’ve already heard of workers who’ve lost their jobs because of the crisis having been denied benefits. We’re also concerned about the benefit levels our employees who earn tips will receive. On top of all this, we’re not sure how we’re going to meet our business expenses. 

Small business owners and our employees need help with these expenses. Our businesses desperately need rent, tax, and utilities relief. Our employees need rent and utilities relief, too. We’re thinking outside the box here and I want the government to do the same. 

What won’t work for us are cumbersome loan processes and the prospect of taking on more debt in these uncertain times. Loans might be helpful for businesses with larger margins, but we need money now. What we need even less than loans are massive bailouts for the airlines and the cruise industry while millions are suffering and our small businesses economy is imploding. We need politicians to put our small businesses and our employees first.