SEA BOWL

Hi everyone, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted on here and thank you for staying tuned. For those who doesn’t know me, I’d like to formally introduce myself…
My name is Mora. I used to own S.E.A. Bowl and now just S.E.A. Hut. It was my last day at SEA Bowl in this picture. I may not look like it, but I was mentally, emotionally and physically drained on this exact day and the past few months before then. Covid took a toll on me tremendously financially and everything above. There are pros and cons to being a sole owner and there were definitely more cons because of Covid. I had no other partner to talk or lean on to help make any decisions. It was just me and all the employees that remained.
We opened right before Covid, therefore we didn’t qualify for any PPPs, grants or loans. I invested my whole life savings and took out many loans to build SEA Bowl. Covid took a toll on me financially. Although we weren’t making much each day, I let everyone who wanted to stay on board continue to have work and opened every day to make ends meet. I was negative nearly every day and every month, but I continued persevere because I didn’t want to give up or let it go so easily. I kept telling myself, it’ll get better. And it did!

When the state allowed us to open back up, the amount of support we were getting was overwhelming. Too overwhelming for me as a sole cook in a 30 seat restaurant, not to mention the outdoor tables, to handle by myself. I couldn’t find help fast enough and we eventually lost customers over time when the service and quality went down. There were times where there were only three of us. It was me, a dishwasher who later learned how to fry, grill, and a prep cook. The two guys didn’t know how to work the front so there were days where I’d take orders myself and run to the kitchen to cook at the same time. Because we were so short handed, work made it very stressful for everyone. I eventually lost employees one by one and was always hiring, but never received any applicants. (Continue in comment)