Although many restaurants remain closed during the pandemic, for those who stay open, the restaurant and the restaurant remain a problem – and they even forced a Los Angeles restaurant owner to close the store, CBS Los Angeles reports.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a growing number of restaurants in the city have struggled as scammers take advantage of internet orders to use fraudulent credit cards or demand refunds, claiming they have never received part or part of the order.
Korean Fusion Cafe “Spoon by H” had the ingredients to become a success story in LA, but it is the symbol of a small business, with owner and chef Yoonjin Hwang working for 15 hours to run the restaurant with his mother and her brother.
“We don’t have staff. We don’t have cooks. I have to do everything on my own,” Hwang said. “Like many other small businesses, we have been hit hard by the pandemic. All we could do was take it every day and do everything we could to stay afloat.”
But as restaurants receive more and more delivery orders online and through apps, they face a new challenge called “friendly fraud” or “refunds.” In the scam, a customer orders food, often through a delivery service, then receives the meal, but disputes the charge with the credit card company to receive a refund.
One day, Hwang received the largest order to date, for over $ 700.
“He came and took the food and then a week later he challenged the charge,” Hwang said.
He lost his food and his money, and that happened – over and over again.
“I felt so incredibly helpless and frustrated. We just couldn’t continue to run our business like that,” she said. So he decided to close the restaurant for good. Saturday will be her last day, to the despair of her customers.
“When I found out it was closing, I was devastated,” said Alyse Whitney, a client.
But the owners saw her struggles and stepped in to help, raising more than $ 60,000 on a GoFundMe page.
Hwang said, “It was a wonderful reminder that there is more good in the people around us and in our communities.”
Hwang intends to pay off his debt with the money raised and said he could consider opening a new business sometime with income, but does not know when and what kind of business.