Orlando, Florida – As WKMG headed to downtown Orlando this week, some business owners said they expect others to do the same.
Nifty's Korean BBQ and Ramen is located on the first floor of the Chase Building on Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando. Helen Soh and her husband have been running the restaurant for seven years as a two-person operation, with Helen taking orders and serving customers, and her husband cooking the food.
“We have the same person cooking the whole menu, not just one dish,” says So. “Having the same person cooking means there's consistency in the food.”
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But Sos's authentic Korean cuisine may be the only thing that's consistent so far.
“We used to be busy during lunch hours, but now our sales have dropped by 50 percent,” So said. “As a manager, I'm very worried that sales will drop so much.”
She said she's never seen such a drop in customer numbers, even during the pandemic. She said she used to stay open until 9 p.m., but now she closes at 6:30 p.m., and she doesn't think enough people are coming downtown.
“With all the news about gun violence, people already have the perception that it's unsafe to come downtown,” Thau said, “and the same with the homeless issue. If someone's walking down the street, they're going to get hit with a homeless person for a dollar or two or whatever, and they're a nuisance.”
Seo said parking fees and the hassle of finding a spot are an added burden for customers, especially in today's economy where inflation is making everything more expensive, but Nifty's menu prices have remained the same.
“Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the prices of ingredients have increased by at least 30 to 40 percent, but we are keeping our prices the same,” So said. “If we change the prices, people who can come twice a week might only come once a week, so we can't change them. Our sales won't increase.”
As an example of how things are changing, he pointed to Hamburger Mary's closing its downtown location after 16 years. “The hustle and bustle of downtown Orlando has been replaced by a sleepy town with barely anyone working downtown,” the restaurant's social media page said. Other nearby storefronts along Church Street are also vacant.
David Barilla, executive director of the Orlando Downtown Development Commission and Community Redevelopment Authority, told News 6 the city recognizes the difficulties some businesses are facing.
“We're in constant communication with our business units,” Barilla said. “We understand that every economic climate has challenges, but even a transitional economic climate has challenges.”
The transition is part of the city's DTO 2.0 initiative, an effort to transition Downtown from a business hub to a neighborhood district, and Barilla said the revitalization of Church Street is a key component.
“We've got some new programs in place to encourage business to come,” he said, “and we're fortunate to have Blue Wave Sushi open and they're doing really well. Bao Spot opened recently with our help. We're in talks with a few more people to bring them on board, but a clear focus on Church Street is definitely our top priority.”
News 6 spoke with several other restaurants in the downtown area about how business is going, and most cited similar issues as So's, saying they've seen fewer customers this year.
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