Chi Yatai Restaurant Relief Fundraiser

When the coronavirus news first broke in the US in January of 2020, that was the first blow that quickly deflated the excitement from our soft opening on 12/23/19. In the weeks to follow, far fewer customers were in Chinatown, and our sales plummeted 30-40% in January, February, and March.

Then on March 17th, dine-in operations for all Illinois restaurants were ordered to shut down (the majority of our income has come from dine-in orders) followed by the Shelter-In-Place order here in Illinois being extended from 4/7 to 4/30. To do our part to help flatten the curve, and to protect our employees, our customers, and their loved ones, Chi Yatai decided to close the restaurant indefinitely, which means we will have absolutely no income stream for (7) weeks (most likely longer). The coronavirus has created an overwhelmingly great financial burden and need at this critical time, especially with our sales down to 0%.

To do my part to ease the financial strain and out of great love and compassion for my employees, I have sacrificed and have stopped taking my own salary since January 18th of this year (my last paid day of work), and I plan to continue to work for free for as long as the coronavirus negatively impacts the restaurant. In addition to not paying myself a salary or tips these last (3) months, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars from my own personal savings to help pay my employees' wages and pay our restaurant's many monthly expenses. Other restaurant owners have told me it often takes (1) year before making a profit. The high initial startup costs to open Chi Yatai, the lower sales due to the coronavirus, and the fact that we are too new to have grown a larger customer base have created a difficult financial situation for us. To be honest, we really want to overcome and emerge victorious, but we desperately need your help.

Where other landlords have waived rent or given 50% or more discounts on rent, one of our landlords has agreed to give us a small 4% discount for the months of May and June; our other landlord has agreed to give us a 9.5% discount on our monthly rent. It's better than nothing, but we also still need to pay our monthly credit card balances, insurance, utilities, accounting, federal and state payroll taxes, City of Chicago sales taxes, etc.

URGENT UPDATE (4/23/2020): Governor Pritzker has extended the Stay-At-Home order in Illinois through May 30th, meaning Chi Yatai will have been closed for almost (3) months now. Your generosity and kindness are needed more than ever so that we can reopen in July. We genuinely need YOUR help to survive until then and get to July amidst all of our financial obligations as a restaurant. Please read the entire update below and consider supporting the highest-rated restaurant on Yelp and Google in Chicago's Chinatown based on what our amazing customers have had to say! They really are the best customers in Chicago!

In closing, whether you give $1, $21,000, or an amount in between, on behalf of the Chi Yatai staff, owners, and our families, we are SO very thankful, humbled, and grateful for your kindness and generosity during this difficult time. Please know that any dollar amount given will help us out tremendously! Thank you SO very much in advance, God bless, please stay healthy, we're all in this together, and I know we'll get through this together! #SmallBusinessRelief

Gratefully Yours,

John C.
Owner, Chi Yatai

Fundraiser Update: I was able to distribute $800 back on 4/3/2020 based on what was raised prior to 4/3/2020 (after credit card processing and GoFundMe fees) to help my employees with their living costs. I would love to continue to be able to support our employees during our restaurant's closure as much as possible. Additionally, Chi Yatai has received a small PPP loan that will provide (8) weeks of help from May 1st through the end of June. Whatever we fundraise moving forward will provide much-needed funds for our various restaurant financial obligations from March, from April, and for July of 2020 and beyond. Chi Yatai will sadly NOT be one of the businesses receiving a grant (notified 4/8 at 6:25 PM) from the State of Illinois Hospitality Emergency Grant Program. Unfortunately, we are also ineligible for the $4000 Facebook grant because we have not been in business for at least (1) year; in other words, as a 5-month old restaurant, we are too new of a restaurant to be eligible.