Despite the obstacles faced over the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinatown’s businesses remained strong, enduring the toughest months of the outbreak. That was a key takeaway from an interview with Chinatown Business Association President Teresa Tsoi. The Sampan recently sat down with Tsoi to discuss the livelihood of the neighborhood’s shops and restaurants. Following is a lightly edited transcript:
No one was prepared for the pandemic. In the Chinatown Business Association, about 98 % of the members are businesses in the Chinatown, and 1-2% members are outside. Most of the Chinatown businesses are restaurants, bubble tea shops, bakeries, beauty salons and body spas. Chinatown businesses are small to medium size, only a few big restaurants. It was hard for small businesses to set up for social distancing, which meant that there was basically more than 50% less capacity and revenues during the beginning and height of the pandemic. There were new health regulations and policies, and no vaccinations. People were very frustrated. The majority of the businesses were afraid to stay open… to take risks and get sick.
The pandemic has lasted three years. One of the biggest difficulties for our members has been the language barrier. Most of the information from the city or government was not bilingual. We often had to act as intermediaries, translating and interpreting sometimes complex messages. When PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) and SBA-backed loan came out to help businesses keep their workforce employed, people didn’t know how to apply. Our mission was to guide them through the process. Hopefully, there will be more support going forward from the government, more grant opportunities for non-profit associations, more programs for businesses to get loans, and strong policies for tax reliefs and rent control. All information needs to be bilingual, and there are many native languages to consider, not just English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Options like Grubhub, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and other online ordering services started blooming. They were charging very high commissions, like 30%. Some other associations fought against the high commission rates, so they stayed at 15% in Boston. The Chinese-owned company Chowbus is very active in Chinatown and other Chinese communities. Also most businesses had operated without computer systems for a very long time and were not familiar with online ordering services. But upon their introduction, they found online ordering services to be very helpful.
Even though it has taken quite a bit of time for our members to recover, business certainly is picking up a lot now. Some of them are still complaining that there is not enough business, but the other major complaint now is that it is hard to hire people. Workers have gotten used to the idea of working from home, getting government unemployment benefits, taking early retirement, or even changing their career paths. Salaries as service workers or cooks are really not sustainable. There are still many other challenges that businesses are facing: inflation, supply chains, and behavior change. We partner with AACA for the Asian Business Training & Mentorship Program. It is an amazing program, but sometimes it is hard to convince the business owners to take classes.
If there is a next pandemic, or however much longer this one continues to be a public health threat, I believe now that businesses have gained more experience. They will be emotionally and mentally prepared. The hardest part will be the physical restrictions of Chinatown, narrow streets of sidewalks and small dining floors. The lack of sufficient parking spaces in Chinatown is another issue, not enough meters or parking lots. People tend to go outside of Chinatown for convenience, like Quincy or Malden, where there are more and more Asian restaurants, available parking and supermarkets around. We have often proposed to the city government to build more parking spaces around Chinatown. We are talking with Tufts Medical Center, regarding the parking lot on Tyler Street.
We are working closely with different associations and planning different marketing events to attract more consumers for Chinatown businesses. Last summer, we partnered with The Greenway for “Taiwan Night” by the Chinatown gate. We set up venues with activities like Lion dance, Chinese drama performances, Karaoke, Chinese chess competition. We are planning some exciting events this summer.
