In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, like all downtown restaurants, we sustained heavy losses due to spoiled inventory and loss of business, and are working with our insurance carriers to see how much we can recover.
In the meantime we have decided to carry a full payroll for our staff for the week that we were forced to shutdown, but in order to do this we need your help.
If you intend to eat at S'MAC at any time in the next year, we ask that you consider putting that amount on a S'MAC gift card and use that card when you come in to eat in the future.
Please consider using S'MAC gift cards to fulfill a part of your Holiday gift-giving this year. And please buy that gift card now rather than wait until later in the year.
Either of these ideas will allow us to collect cash, that you had intended to spend at S'MAC, up front and use it for employee payroll now.
To purchase a S'MAC gift card, please go here.
Updated 9:27
DNAinfo has a piece on S'MAC's gift-card campaign tonight... Per the article by Serena Solomon, owner Sarita Ekya estimated that her Sandy-related losses were $90,000.
S'MAC, which first opened in 2006, has three locations — East 12th Street, East 33rd Street and a small kiosk on First Avenue and 1st Street — that were not damaged in the storm but were all forced to close. The East Village and Murray Hill locations were shut for eight days and the kiosk for 11 days.
S'MAC also decided to pay workers for the time the restaurants were closed during the hurricane.
However, now the bills have started arriving and rent on the shops is overdue by more than 10 days, she said.
32 comments:
Considering that they price insane prices for cheap food (their smallest size comes out to like 8 bucks..seriously?), you'd think they'd be just fine. Their customer service isn't worth the price either.
I am not sure how I feel about this - S'Mac also was using kickstarter a while back so that they could open up another location, which in my opinion, was not what kickstarter is there for.
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1498482090/bring-smac-to-murray-hill?ref=live)
I am not distrustful by nature, but there is something opportunistic here, no?
Wow, the age of handouts.
I feel bad for their loss but these people have plenty of money coming in from all the college types and everyone else that goes there, it is expensive for someting relatively cheap to make, give me a break.
Reminds me of all the people begging for money on Kickstarter instead of earning it and saving it for what they need to do, like everyone else.
I've been suffering $$wise, have 't cooked at home since sandy... Not cause of power or gas issues. But, places that have feed me for years really need mu/our support...
they also operate out of the 1st street park
i wish i liked their mac & cheese - it's not worth any price to me
and i wish i trusted their intent to pay their staff for the past
Sorry to say, they got my money when they sold me a bigger size at their Little Veselka branch, and I get home and realize it's the smaller size they gave me.
clearly the idea of a rainy day fund or disaster planning is lost on everyone
And what happens to the gift cards if they go out of business????
what a joke...
I thought I was being cranky when I scoffed at this and felt cheapened by it. Glad to see I'm not alone.
One week's payroll and you need people to buy gift cards to pay for it?
Please don't get greedy S'MAC, or we'll have to call your store S'CHMUCK.
It might help their business if they picked up the phone when you'd call for a delivery. I gave after doing this more than 2 months.
JB
I am with the others who don't like this. I am not comfortable with these businesses trying to guilt people and going on sites like Kickstarter to raise money. The businesses that were damaged will get money from the insurance companies. It does take time, but as someone else noted, do these businesses not have any plans in place for emergencies?
one of the most successful restaurants in the area & maybe the city shouldn't need to start a fund to pay their workers for a week. Not to mention if they had proper insurance, insurance will cover their loss of income & sometimes payroll! Seems like they do not know how to plan financially & that shouldn't be our problem.
This seems really crass to me. A lot of us are out money because of the hurricane but you don't see us begging restaurants for free food.
Every single food business below 39th st took a hit, lots of employees couldn't work for their usual wages, hell every household with a stocked fridge and freezer ...everyone took a hit yet this place is trying to make out like there's something unique about their predicament. Again everyone took a hit. How crass. And not to be an ass but couldn't they have stayed open and served up some food? And, now I'm really being an ass here but this is a mac and cheese based restaurant, isn't dried pasta the basis of their menu? And cheese, doesn't cheese have a pretty decent shelf life out of the fridge?
and then there's the folks at 11B and Rai Rai Ken who came to work in the middle of a blackout, cooked food, and then fucking gave it away to neighborhood residents.
i'll be spending my money over there, thanks.
Kickstarter is abused for all the wrong reasons.
How did they lose 90k in 4 days???
I guess Sandy brought out people's (and business owners') true color's. Hope they stay closed ..
everybody down here lost money..get back to work..and apply for a FEMA loan..
Rather than buy a gift card to support a money that will soon be collecting an insurance payment, I would rather buy $30 worth of non-perishable groceries, bring the bag to the Rockaways or Staten Island and give it to someone who is truly in crisis.
I think what they mean is that they paid their hourly workers for the week? If so, that is different than a lot of restaurants, who just told their staff to come back when the power comes on.
I have never been to this place, I prob never will, and to guilt the public into subsidizing your generosity seems to be disingenuous, but if they paid their workers for the week, that is great, and that aspect of the story should be applauded.
This is disgusting. They did NOTHING for anyone in the hood during Sandy, they are the number one delivery restaurant in the area, super successful and now they are guilting us, using Sandy as an excuse?! How dare they. So many businesses suffered or had to close on C and D. F THEM.
A 90K loss in that short time does seem excessive.
I couldn't help but think that they lost a big money-making opportunity by not selling *something* to all the people standing in an endless, cold line to vote right in front of their doors last week.
Personally, I'm spending my money at awesome businesses that really give to the neighborhood (and gave to the neighborhood during the hurricane) and/or were heavily affected, such as Casa Adela, Northern Spy, Zum Schneider, 11B pizza...
if they are making 90k in four days, begging the largely working class EV for help is a baseless and classless move.
i can't stand these dumb a$$ niche food places. they are there for tourists and transients and i cant stand what they do to the vibe of the hood.
gimme a fre@kin diner and let these crapholes be gone!
so sick of watching our hood be diced up and handed over on a platter to the NYU monsters, tourists and rich daytrippers.
they are like bees to honey with places like this, so i oppose it.
I agree with everyone else here. WTF? That place teams with people every night. There's no reason that one week out should put them out of business. And really. Would the world be a lesser place without it?
Somehow, it seems the bigger the niche the more popular the restaurant. How else to explain the spate of gimmick restaurants serving what would be considered a "last resort" if you were cooking at home. It explains why S'MAC seems to be solely patronized by students in pyjamas.
I'm still waiting for an all-toast restaurant to open in downtown Manhattan. Can't be far off now.
I only wish our national political process could bring about this much agreement and unanimity!
For the record, I vote with the rest of you…
In fact, it sounds unanimous! Is that a mandate against S'MAC?
worse yet Anon at 7:13 PM...
that WAS their large size! lol.
I can't see paying for mac n cheese..
Interesting to read all the negativity about this place, because I have some more ... while Veselka at the 1st Street subway wasn't fantastic, it was pretty decent and very convenient - OK coffee and OK breakfast items.
I have to say I tried S'Mac a few times for coffee or a pastry (while walking the dog in the morning) and was very disappointed each time. The items are stale, cold, or otherwise not worth the money.
Now they are playing bad music. I wish Veselka were back, even though I know they are shady, at least their food is honest, decent, and not terribly overpriced.
Go S'Mac yourself S'Mac : )
Agree with all. Plus, their "employees" are mostly freinds or family. So basically, they want us to pay for their salaries. Plus, often times gift cards are not used or expired, so they're gambling on that revenue without having to dish out the product. Plus, they're only nice to the transients. If they can smell that you're local, they give you an attitude as in wtf are you doing here, we don't serve your kind. I would like to smac them. They can survive without this racket. And the EV will survive without S'mac.
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