Itani Ramen Employee Fund

There is nothing that brings me more pride as a chef + restaurant owner than having a team made up of kind-hearted, hard-working humans who have made Itani Ramen a place guests return to for comforting meals and friendly service.

Seeing our team afraid and overwhelmed by the uncertainty that lies ahead amidst the COVID-19 pandemic breaks my heart. At Itani Ramen, we are doing our part to stop the spread of the virus by discontinuing in-restaurant service and by being meticulous about the take-out + delivery orders that we are still offering to our community. Unfortunately, as a business that already exists in an industry with razor-thin margins, we have had to cut our staffs' hours down from 1,600 per week to 84. That's a 95% reduction in our workforce. We are spreading those hours around as much as possible, but that's not nearly enough for our employees to provide for their families and pay rent.

Many of our loyal guests have asked how they can help so we have set up this GoFundMe to provide our employees with financial assistance during this difficult time. 100% of these funds will be distributed to our hourly employees to hopefully help them stay afloat and find glimmers of stability. We recognize that it's a difficult time for many industries, not just ours, so we truly appreciate any donations, no matter how small.

Stay well, Oakland. We'll get through this together. 

Kyle Itani + our entire team at Itani Ramen