![]() We had a cushion in the bank for current payroll and a few months of rents, utilities, contracts, taxes etc., but if I didn’t close right away, there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to make full payroll if sales dropped any further better to let the staff collect unemployment benefits than not get a paycheck in two weeks (my payroll/benefits cost was almost 60% of expenses, “normal” is 30%-35%, more about that later). I spent all night crunching numbers and realized we had to close. Then we got the warning from the Guv about handwashing and such, and I read an article about Tom Douglas closing all his restaurants temporarily…Cruise Ships had been canceled… uh-oh, this was serious. I wasn’t too concerned at first because it was just a thousand down in sales here and there and I figured it would pick up when this crazy virus passed. If you want to learn more about my decision, settle in for the long version below.īack in early March, I noticed sales slowing down instead of ramping up like they usually do right before Comicon, St Patty’s Day and all the cool Spring stuff that heads off “Cruise Ship Season” bringing the millions of tourists and 85% of our customer base to Seattle. The other two, BB Caffe Lieto at Pike Place Market and BB Belltown will open sometime in early June for takeout, delivery and extremely limited outdoor dining. In short, I have decided to close two of my locations: Pioneer Square and White Center. I figured it was high time to let ya know what’s going on with the Bitch. Staff who have grown together, helped each other through life events, were accepting and welcoming when adding new members, who created a culture where differences and originality were celebrated! This is a heartbreak for me that may never mend.”īiscuit Bitch will have just 10 employees when it reopens its remaining two locations at Pike Place Market and Belltown, projected for early June. “Not only am I letting most everyone go, I’m breaking up a tight-knit family. “This was the most excruciatingly painful thing I’ve ever had to do,” she added. White Center, along with Pioneer Square and their headquarter office were closed and employees were laid off. Luckily, our other shops generated enough revenue to get it through the rough winter and it had just started to generate a profit in early March when everything came to a standstill.” Plus, wouldn’t it be great to offer some jobs with great benefits to a community other than downtown? In September 2019 we opened White Center. Would my concept work in a neighborhood without tourists? I needed a project, and the White Center community was warm and welcoming. “Even though it didn’t work out as a new bakery, there was something challenging about moving out of downtown. The White Center location was opened in Sept., 2019. So, how did I decide which shops to close? It wasn’t easy.” To sell even 500 biscuits a day (more than best-case scenario), having all that overhead is just not sustainable. ![]() “You need an Operations Manager, HR Manager, Distribution Manager, Quality Control Manager, Bookkeeper, Maintenance Tech and salaried Shop Managers. “To manage four locations, provide benefits, employ 58 staff members and produce and sell upwards of 1,500 biscuits and 50+ gallons of gravy a day, you need a production facility, an office and a staff,” Spice said. Owner Kimmie Spice made the announcement on Facebook on Sunday, May 10, 2020. A city whose police officers tell my staff to use pepper spray on junkies that enter the shop to assault them, spit and throw bottles at them, instead of offering to help keep them safe by patrolling the area more.Photo courtesy Biscuit Bitch / RJB Photo Studioĭue to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Biscuit Bitch will be closing its White Center location at 9602 16th Ave SW. A city that couldn't see past big business to pass a head tax to help build that affordable housing for these service workers. Once quaint neighborhoods like Belltown being demolished for glass-fronted condos, driving up rents making it impossible to find an affordable place to run a small business and impossible for my staff to find affordable housing. Construction EVERYWHERE leaving no place to park delivery vehicles and blocking the customer entrances to my businesses, making my shops filthy with exhaust and dust and making my employees feel ill all summer long. And what do l get in return from the city? Streets that take over an hour to get less than ONE MILE from one of my shops to another to transfer my products because my commercial vehicle is not allowed to drive down 3" Ave anymore. ![]()
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