More than three dozen businesses in Chinatown were impacted by two power outages in less than a week.
The local businesses had to close their doors to customers, throw away all of their food, and have potentially lost tens of thousands in revenue.
“Not being open means no income,” said Leslie Niebuhr, co-owner of Black Shamrock Tavern.
Last Thursday, a nine-hour power outage from Chinatown to the Capitol District affected 900 customer accounts, according to Hawaiian Electric. Four days later, another power outage, which was caused by a fire, hit Chinatown, impacting 3,000 customer accounts. At 4 p.m. Thursday, HECO finally restored power to all of Chinatown.
Owners of O’Kims Korean Kitchen, Obake, Skull & Crown Trading Co., and Black Shamrock Tavern all spoke to Spectrum News Hawaii about the tremendous amount of food they had to toss because of the loss of refrigeration.
Noa Laporga, who is the co-owner of Obake and Skull & Crown Trading Co., said he had to throw away the food in his walk-in refrigerators and the food that had already been prepped. He will also pay his staff for prep work they did over the course of a week for both restaurants’ kitchens before they knew about the power outages.
“It’s all done, and all gone and all wasted,” said Laporga.
Hyun Kim, the chef and owner of O’Kims, said she has had to throw away about $5,000 worth of food and lost at least $10,000 in revenue.
Skull & Crown reservations are always booked, according to Laporga, and the restaurant’s general manager has had to call customers and cancel their reservations for the last three days.
“That's just huge numbers,” said Laporga. “Tens of thousands of dollars that could have been made.”
Along with turning away their regular customers, Black Shamrock Tavern had to cancel multiple birthday parties and other events booked at the Irish pub.
Niebuhr said on top of the losses she faces as a business owner, she is also concerned about the lost pay and tips her employees will receive as a result of the restaurant’s four days of closures.
The small business owners are worried that the power turning on and off twice Thursday morning may have caused lasting damage to their appliances.
“If you have electricity on and all of your appliances are on and it just shuts off and then just randomly turns on, that does damage to a lot of the refrigeration and appliances, which costs thousands and thousands of dollars,” said Laporga.
Niebuhr, with Black Shamrock Tavern, said last week’s power outage broke their ice machines. Over the weekend, they purchased ice, but they don’t know when the power comes back on if the ice machine will still be broken and if so, how much it will cost to repair it.
“Hopefully other things aren't broken,” said Niebuhr. “Although, we've tried to do everything we can to mitigate that by unplugging things and avoiding power surges.”
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest days for most restaurants in Chinatown and the business owners are concerned they won’t be able to open for those crucial days.
Even though the power is back on now, Laporga can’t immediately open up his two restaurants. Deliveries are scheduled for certain days, so it will take time to restock the kitchen.
“We have to restock everything and we’re scared to even prep,” said Laporga. “Why would I spend thousands of dollars to replenish everything, spend hours on prep, and then what is it going to turn off again?”
Niebuhr had to toss all of Black Shamrock Tavern’s pizza dough. Even with power back on, it will take at least 36 hours to make the dough again and allow it to properly rise.
Laporga encouraged customers to come support the local businesses in Chinatown as they reopen and also to be understanding as they get back into the groove of things.
“People will be able to be a little more lenient that we won't have a lot of things on the menu,” said Laporga. “It takes small steps to reopen.”
Niebuhr also asked patrons to come support all the small businesses in Chinatown.
“If everybody could come out this weekend and enjoy a day or evening in Chinatown, whether you’re shopping at one of the shops, or buying a lei from one of the lei stands, or eating or drinking somewhere, just to kind of spread the love,” said Niebuhr.
Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.