Vietnamese restaurant moves to new SLO location amid coronavirus chaos
A San Luis Obispo Vietnamese restaurant has moved across downtown amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Its owner said COVID 19-related downtime, coupled with slower customer traffic, has allowed her to get situated.
Lotus traded its former location at 1131 Broad St., near Big Sky Cafe and 7-Eleven, for a new spot at the end of the Mission Mall on Higuera Street.
The restaurant’s owner, Alexandra Nguyen, closed her previous business, Le Petit Paris pastry shop at 746 Higuera St., No. 6, and moved Lotus into that commercial space after interior upgrades.
Nguyen said the move had been in the works prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as her five-year lease was coming to an end at the Broad Street location. Rent at the Mission Mall space is nearly half as much, she said.
The move took place about a month ago, and Lotus now is located near Nguyen’s other eatery, Mongo Madness. That makes it easier to manage both businesses, she said.
Lotus, which is currently open for takeout, has indoor seating and windows near the creek that separates Mission Plaza from the Higuera Street shopping area.
“It actually worked out to move during this time, because of the downtime we’ve been able to get organized and get familiar with the space and practice how we runs things to get the hang of it,” Nguyen said.
She said her pho dishes are among her most popular menu items, making up about a third of orders.
SLO restaurants offer Vietnamese food, Mongolian barbecue
Nguyen, who solely owns Lotus and Mongo Madness, a Mongolian barbecue restaurant, said it will be easier to operate the businesses side by side — instead of traversing across downtown to manage both.
“The restaurant business is very time-consuming and very demanding,” Nguyen said. “You better love the culture, the food, and the people. You can’t miss one or else it will be very hard. I work 12- to 14-hour days.”
Nguyen grew up in Saigon before moving to the United States, where she had a sponsorship with a Catholic family in Huntsville, Alabama.
She worked for 13 years as a doctor in Austin, Texas, she said.
Nguyen moved to the Central Coast in 2010 and opened her restaurant shortly thereafter.
Nguyen has owned Lotus for a decade in San Luis Obispo, opening in the Railroad Square area before moving to Broad Street in 2015.
Coronavirus impacts businesses across SLO County
The COVID-19 shutdown has impacted restaurants heavily across San Luis Obispo County, where business is down 50% to 90% — leaving owners pinched for cash flow and revenue streams.
Nguyen said her business is down about 80% from normal.
She said she was helped early in the COVID 19-related shutdown when a regular customer, a micro-lender for small businesses in underdeveloped countries, offered her a $5,000 no-interest loan.
That helped her survive until she received a Paycheck Protection Program loan as part of the federal CARES Act.
The lender spoke with The Tribune, saying he wanted to remain anonymous.
“I am a longtime customer from the days when Lotus was in Railroad Square,” the man, a San Luis Obispo resident, wrote in an email. “I have always loved the food (banh mi sandwiches, chicken pho, and spring rolls) and been impressed by how hard Alex works as an owner/operator, as well as the fact that she is always very pleasant to talk to and appreciates her customers.”
The San Luis Obispo man said that he has been eating at the restaurant once every couple of weeks for years.
“I was collecting some pick-up food from Lotus on Broad Street a few weeks into the shutdown,” he said. “I asked her how it was going, and she told me what a struggle it was to keep going and keep a few staff employed. I wanted to help, hence the loan.”
What happens when the downtown restaurant reopens?
Nguyen said she currently employs a handful of workers, down from her usual staff of 15.
She hopes to hire back staff, some of whom are currently on unemployment.
“It has been hard to (employ) cooks,” Nguyen said. “Servers have been easier to hire back.”
Nguyen said she plans to space tables and prepare her restaurant according to state guidelines for restaurants reopening with dine-in service.
“It will also be very easy for people to order here and eat outside by the creek,” Nguyen said.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 5:05 AM.
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