PUBLISHED MAY 10, 2020
Mother’s Day, Sunday May 10
I’m starting to experience a new curve on the corona-era rollercoaster. There are many lenses through which to look at this thing. There are the broad sectors-- public health, economic and political. Then there are the personal ones. And then they start to blend together. Each time the stay-at-home order gets extended, on the one hand, I am not surprised or dismayed. It’s necessary and understandable. But it also deepens the feeling of tightrope walking without a net.
I’m feeling the effects of two months of disruption to professional and social routines. These days… confusion, sadness, and fear combine with my usual sense of optimism, creativity, indefatigability and compassion. When I was a U-M student in the 80s, living in East Quad, there was a janitorial closet someone had labeled “Primal Scream.” Rarely used back then, I’m sure it would be in demand right now.
Some days I ignore the news and focus on the business. It’s easier to operate with blinders on. But it doesn’t seem like a responsible way to exist. So other days I consume news and listen to people around me -- other business owners, health care workers, farmers, unemployed people -- and what I read and what they tell me swirls around in my head. I worry about food supply and how long unemployment funds will last, a second round of infections and how/when we will have elections again, and it proves a distraction from running the business.
OK, that’s the personal.
In terms of the business, sales remain strong. We are continuously improving our carryout and delivery systems. Piece-by-piece we have transformed our dining areas into storage spaces for dry goods and carryout containers. Over the weeks we have moved stacks of chairs here and tables there… plugged in a rice cooker, created a station for filling flour bags. This week we settled in even more. Putting aside the “temporary” sentiment, we organized the space to make it most useful for the long haul.
Staff updates: Overall people are doing well. They continue to take their temperatures on arriving at work daily and so far, knock on wood, everyone is healthy. It’s a tremendous crew. Everyone goes above and beyond, keeps a positive attitude, and takes seriously the health and safety expectations. Our team of managers on a daily business demonstrates their commitment to the business’ success.
On a sad note, three staff members with various periods of sobriety under their belt have relapsed and are currently not working. One, the previously mentioned kitchen manager R, finally got into treatment. That’s the best news. Another staffer got into treatment, but only lasted a day. He left and is out there somewhere, using. The third person is currently holed up in a motel room. One of his co-workers paid for three nights in the room. But he also took away the individual’s debit card to prevent him from emptying his entire bank account on drugs. I have learned, to my amazement, that one can blow thousands of dollars in the blink of an eye when using.
Now it’s time to focus on the day. It’s Mother’s Day and we have about 70 baskets to prepare. The planters we brought onto the patio to protect from frost need to be taken back outside. The pay period ended on Friday and there is payroll to do. There are biills to pay, store items to re-stock, and recipes to edit for the website.
Sunday May 3
A lot has happened in the five days since my last report. In fact, so much has happened that there hasn’t even been time to write about it. We got a PPP loan (in addition to the SBA emergency funding grant/loan), we started selling flowers from a family farm/greenhouse, and we had our biggest sales week ever in the history of Detroit Street. We also came to terms with the increasing permanence of our situation and what that means for ourselves and our employees.
As I sit here writing this at 7:27 am, out in the yard with sunshine and birds, I am aware of my aching muscles and tired head. Our sales have been much stronger than anything I could have anticipated through this crisis. Food orders come in steadily throughout the day, then the flood of tickets starts around 4pm and lasts until 8pm or so. Online orders literally pour in -- the tickets stream from the printer. We have two phone lines, and during dinner they both ring constantly. While we are on one call taking an order, the call waiting buzzes ceaselessly. Callers get frustrated that they can’t get through. What a weird problem to have.
The harder we try, the more food we sell, which places more responsibility on us to give back. It’s great to feel like an economic engine. Just this week we gave away about $2300 in free food and gave $1000 in cash assistance to furloughed staff members who have not yet received unemployment. A food distributor mistakenly dropped off five cases of whole-grain Pop Tarts (labeled “sunflower oil”!), which they couldn’t take back. So we received a credit and took the Pop Tarts down the street to Tea Haus where they continue to prepare school lunches for kids who need them -- support Tea Haus! They are champions!
Another fun development has been selling flowers and herbs. It started with a thought about selling something special for Mother’s Day. While conceptualizing food and drink baskets, I thought it would be a nice touch to include a flower with each basket. I called my friend Karlene from Goetz Greenhouse & Family Farms. She said they don’t have cut flowers, but they do have potted Gerber daisies. I asked if we could order 100 for Mother’s Day, then thought “why wait?” I asked if they could bring some for us to sell in our online store. Her husband, Farmer John, showed up an hour later with 25 Gerber daisies, which we sold almost immediately. That was Wednesday. They have brought us more product twice since then -- hanging baskets, potted flowers, and potted herbs. And I just messaged to ask them for more. It’s a partnership I feel really good about. We help them sell goods that, with Farmer’s Markets closed, they have difficulty distributing. And we can offer our customers plants they normally get at Farmer’s Market, but can’t at present. It’s nice to see people’s faces light up when they pick out their hanging flower baskets.
OK, backing up. On Tuesday I wrote about receiving a mystery $10,000 that turned out to be from the Small Business Administration. Well, the very next day we received a message that our PPP Loan had been approved. Then things turned into a weird version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” I grew up watching that game show, where contestants could choose the sure thing -- an appliance or a new car -- or take a gamble on what’s behind Door #1. Behind Door #1 could be anything from a lump of coal to an all-expense paid trip to a luxury resort in Hawaii. Watching contestants choose revealed their true nature: were they cautious or a risk-taker?
So this is how my loan/grant experience turned into “Let’s Make a Deal.” On Monday I received money that I was told -- by experts who were 95% certain -- was a grant. It had no strings attached and no reporting requirements. But as soon as I received word of the $20,000 PPP loan, I received the following communication from a small business advisor employed by the county:
I just wanted to give a couple of updates and some clarification about EIDL [Economic Injury Disaster Loan] and PPP. As you know there have been a number of different interpretations on how all of these programs are going to work together. It seems that even from bank to bank we are seeing different views on how all of this will shake out in the end. Here is the way I would suggest approaching it. If you get the EIDL advance, these are just showing up in peoples accounts, they are basically grants and can be used for just about anything; except on equipment and refinancing debt, see me if you aren’t sure. However, if you also get PPP from a bank be prepared for the EIDL advance amount to be deducted from the total forgivable potential of the PPP. Initially we thought if the EIDL advance was not used for payroll, that all of it could be forgiven but I’m hearing differently so I want everyone to be prepared if that holds true. See the example below. Bottom line the EIDL advance amount would basically turn into a 2 year loan at 1% via PPP. That’s not a terrible thing since so much more could be forgiven with PPP, I’m just trying to eliminate any surprises. If you are only taking the EIDL and no PPP, all of the EIDL advance is forgiven.
So… imagine me, having given up on any or all forms of government assistance, and just trying to make my business work. Then I get $10,000. And two days later $20,000. Then I’m told basically “you can keep the $10k as a grant, or if you choose to take the $20k you essentially get a $30k loan.” $10k for free or $30k to pay back -- maybe. As I worked a busy lunch and mulled it all over, the absurdity of it struck me. But these are the times we’re living in.
Later that day I spoke by phone with Andreea from Bank of Ann Arbor. She patiently talked things through with me. By her calculations, since our loan was for such a modest sum (compared to what we were eligible for), it would likely be forgiven. We could spend the entire sum of the PPP and the EIDL combined -- $30,000 -- on a single payroll. In other words, we would not have a problem spending the money on payroll-related expenses within the 6- or 8- (depending on who you consult) week period following receipt of the monies. She also explained that even in the worst case scenario -- having to repay the entire sum -- it would come out in small monthly increments over a long period of time at a 1% interest rate. So I rolled the dice, chose what’s behind Door #1, and had the $20k deposited into our account. I’ll use it on the next payroll and have enough money left in the account to pay off bills from early March. I can live with the mystery, regardless of how it turns out.
The current period aside, it’s been an interesting trajectory for Detroit Street. The restaurant got off to a rocky start. We opened with a fine-dining concept, which after three months proved financially unsustainable. In December 2017 we pulled the plug and, deep in debt, started over. We rolled out a casual, community-oriented approach which felt much more natural and true to our roots. Live music and art shows were cornerstones of the new concept. But this came at the start of a brutally cold and snowy winter. Spring came and we started to do better. Then construction started. Our restaurant was completely strangled and literally shaken by earth-moving equipment that tore up streets and sidewalks on both sides of the restaurant. That disruption continued through the spring and summer of 2018. Finally in the fall of 2018, with construction basically completed, we started to hit our stride. Sales grew and we built a loyal following. The music nights and new menu were a hit. Then came another rough-weather winter. We had to borrow more money to keep the business afloat. I remember thinking: which plague is next, frogs or locusts?
Things really looked up in 2019. That spring and summer, Detroit Street began to meet its potential. Our reviews greatly improved, we commissioned a mural for the side of the building, flower pots sprang up everywhere and our dining room and patio EXPLODED. Weekdays were decently busy and on weekends we often had an hour wait for a table. Some nights we were so full that we stopped taking reservations a few days out. I remember looking around at the buzzing restaurant -- servers with trays of food, guests enjoying themselves, the bar cranking out cocktails, the band playing -- and trying to capture the moment. Somehow I had an inkling that it wouldn’t last. I couldn’t say why; maybe it was just a feeling that nothing is permanent. But it was so magical that I wanted to remember it forever.
So now I know that the next plague was not frogs or locusts, but corona. This period has its place within the restaurant’s cycle of life. It has a past and a future. And for now, that future will be carry-out and delivery, plants and flowers for adornment and for sale, building community in whatever way possible. At some unknown point in the future, hopefully we will return to the bustling space, incredible concerts by our extremely talented musicians, and all the small but meaningful conversations that happen between staff and guests and across tables throughout the restaurant.