Spice Kitchen supports with small business emergency loans
April 17, 2020
On March 18th, the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office announced an emergency loan program designed to give relief to small businesses in response to the sudden drop in revenue caused by COVID-19. After the Salt Lake City Council approved Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s request to release $1,000,000 in funding, small, local businesses seeking economic relief had access to 0%-interest loans.
While apart, Spice Kitchen Incubator staff and the entrepreneurs they serve have been fighting to pump life back into their businesses during mandated closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: Austen Diamond
The pandemic hit the food and beverage industry hard. Many businesses watched daily operations grind to a complete halt due to restrictions on sit-in dining and large gatherings. Entrepreneurs working with our Spice Kitchen Incubator program received cancellations for catering events, faced restrictions on normal brick-and-mortar restaurant operations, and food truck-based businesses lost access to vending locations. As a direct result of the pandemic, Spice Kitchen entrepreneurs lost thousands in profits, including future market opportunities.
Suha and Mayyadah, owners and operators of Zaater & Zayton, successfully submitted their application and received an emergency loan to cover their small business expenses.
Photo: Billy Yang
As soon as Mayor Mendenhall’s Emergency Loan Program launched, the Spice Kitchen team started contacting small business owners in the program. They ensured every entrepreneur who qualified for the loan received the help they needed to complete their loan applications. On Monday, March 23rd, it was an all-hands-on-deck effort. The team spent the day working quickly with numerous entrepreneur clients to gather documents and prepare applications. Just hours before the midnight deadline, the Spice Kitchen team completed 14 applications for entrepreneurs seeking a total of $229,500 in aid to keep their businesses and livelihoods afloat during these uncertain times. So far, two applications have been approved, for a total of $40,000 in aid.
Spice Kitchen remains committed to connecting our entrepreneurs with as many economic relief efforts as possible over the coming months. You can directly support small business owners participating in the Spice Kitchen Incubator program by purchasing gift cards, ordering food to go, or donating to help them meet their individual GoFundMe goals. Learn more »
Plus, if you like to support local small businesses and love delicious food, there’s a great way you can join us in supporting Spice entrepreneurs. In less than two weeks, Spice Kitchen staff launched a virtual storefront where you can order a weekly Food Box delivered right to your door. Supplies are limited each week, so sign up to receive updates today. Learn more »
Want to do more to support Spice Kitchen entrepreneurs? Email the Spice Kitchen team at SpiceKitchenIncubator@rescue.org to learn more.
Small Business Relief in Wake of COVID-19
Xavier is the Food Business Scale-Up AmeriCorps VISTA who has been working with the Spice team since December. He supports the program and entrepreneurs through behind-the-scenes research to grow Spice Kitchen's capacity to connect entrepreneurs with new resources and market opportunities for continued growth. This includes networking with Food Truck League, a local organization that schedules food trucks, in order to increase inclusion of Spice entrepreneurs in their programming. This includes a new location in Sugar House that will regularly feature Spice Kitchen entrepreneurs' trucks in its rotation. Xavier is also working to create learning resources for entrepreneurs to better understand various digital aspects of their businesses and how to better them to become more efficient managers of their businesses.
A certain degree of flexibility is required for any AmeriCorps position, and the current situation with COVID-19 is no exception. The initial days following social-distancing protocols saw a dramatic drop in business for all businesses and entrepreneurs, and the team immediately set to work connecting entrepreneurs with the resources their families and businesses needed. Xavier is proud of the role that he has been able to play through collecting and synthesizing information about fundraisers, emergency loans, and grants for the team to then use to ensure that the needs of entrepreneurs are being met during this transitory time. Xavier was an integral team member who helped at least 14 entrepreneurs apply for emergency relief funding and a number of others to create GoFundMe matched fundraising campaigns.
Additionally, he has helped set up direct deposit for many entrepreneurs, ensuring adherence to social distancing protocols, and keeping staff, entrepreneurs, and customers as safe as possible.
[Published April 14, 2020 in Spice Kitchen weekly newsletter.]