Restaurateurs are used to taking care of customers. Now they ask for their help

We found out last Thursday night, April 16, that Boundary Bay Brewing won’t be getting any federal stimulus money from the first round of funding. Our application for PPP — the program to help small businesses through the pandemic — was approved. It’s just that the funds were “exhausted.”

I did what every hospitality business owner would do after a two-week rollercoaster of paperwork and waiting, despite being a little exhausted myself: I went into the brewery, searched the pantry, and stayed up late baking pecan pies. I went home for a few hours of sleep before waking up Friday to get ready for our fish fry drive-through.

If you’ve been to our brewery in Bellingham, you might recall we do not have a drive-through window. What we lack in infrastructure, we make up for in ingenuity, and that’s how an alleyway became a drive-through window and a lifeline for our business.

Our skeleton crew of staff made signs to help cars navigate the alleyway-turned-drive-through. The signs borrow a line from “Finding Nemo” — Just Keep Swimming. Those three words sum up the experience of being in the hospitality industry over the past month.

We’ve reinvented our business and our supply chain: Suddenly we’re a drive-through. Our beer sales rep drove several hours to bring me an emergency supply of take-out lids in the back of his Subaru — now that all of our food is either take-out or delivery, the future of our business hinges on those little lids. A friend who had shut their restaurant down let me raid her dry storage for containers to get us through a day! These soup containers were used to feed the staff at a local assisted living facility.

And the late-night pecan pies for April? The box of pecans was in cold storage from a holiday special. The inventory was there, the money had been spent, now all we could do is see if we could turn it into revenue to keep our business running. You know: Just keep swimming.

And we do it all out of a desire to serve our customers. What unites restaurants and hotels all around the state is a desire to serve: Taking care of people, feeding them, and making them feel comfortable – that’s what we do.

But now we’re in a new position of asking you, our customers, to help us. Your favorite neighborhood brewpubs, restaurants, bars, hotels, and bed and breakfasts suddenly have little to no revenue and accumulating bills.

In a recent survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association, Washington restaurant operators reported a 72 percent decline in sales during the period from April 1 to April 10.

The association estimates that more than 193,000 restaurant employees in Washington have been laid off or furloughed since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in March. This represents at least 76 percent of the 252,300 employees who were working at Washington’s eating and drinking places in February.

Hospitality businesses need relief from rent, taxes, and utilities, not just deferred bills.

When this is all over, I can’t wait to open up our doors and deck to friends and family to share a beer.

By contacting your state lawmakers and letting them know how important hospitality businesses are to you, you can help make that dream happen.

Janet Lightner and her husband Ed Bennett own Boundary Bay Brewing.