The financial strain of the coronavirus pandemic is a difficult enough setback for small business owners to survive until a hint of normalcy returns.
But throw in road closures for redevelopment construction, and you have a recipe for frustration.
Downtown's Crzy Monk, a health-inspired Asian eatery from the team behind Lalo (which recently relocated to the space formerly occupied by Fiery Hen), has temporarily closed its doors due to construction for the Court Street Plaza. The eatery is asking its community for help "to Save the Monk through these difficult months," a GoFundMe organized by restaurant co-owner Trang Vo owner reads.
The eatery relocated from its Main Street home this past fall after facing challenges with Downtown business lunch crowd lulls and the loss of pre-show dinners thanks to the pandemic. It moved to Court Street, a familiar location where many of their past establishments have been housed, but was forced to shut down due to the work being done on the forthcoming Court Street Plaza.
"The massive construction for future Court Street Plaza has hindered access for dine-ins, pickups and deliveries. We simply can not generate business. With that, we have decided to close our operation temporarily until the construction is completed," the GoFundMe page says.
The eatery circles back to the namesake and inspiration behind its brand, the legendary "crazy monk" Ji Gong, who was a Chan Buddhist monk known for fighting injustice.
"Just like our inspiration, the crazy Monk, we dare ourselves to ask Cincinnatians, our friends, and our family to help us to hold onto our location, retaining our staff and paying rent and basic expenses (yes, we still need to pay rent, and utilities during construction!) We have great hope for the new, redeveloped Court Street but we need to survive until then. We want to feed you great food and spread Asian Food culture in Cincinnati. We humbly ask for your help for your donation!"
The GoFundMe was started on March 3 and has a goal of $12,000.
If you can't help financially at this time, sharing the GoFundMe or this story helps to spread the word. On Facebook, Crzy Monk writes that buying gift cards also helps the business stay afloat.
For more information, see the fundraising page.
