West L.A. restaurant owner hoping to stay afloat amid coronavirus pandemic

Local restaurant may be closing due to coronavirus pandemic

The economic fallout and the lockdown is, of course, hitting businesses hard. Big and small, as we've been reporting. The bar and restaurants were shut down first and so many are struggling to survive.

LOS ANGELES - When chef and entrepreneur Kim Vu opened her trendy bar and restaurant called "Sorry Not Sorry'' on Pico Blvd in West L.A. last year, she described it as a playful Rose' forward cocktail bar with a fresh take on shareable bar cuisine and entertainment.

She was feeling good.

People liked it, and after years in the food business, she thought she was definitely on the road to a big success.

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Flash forward six months later and she's on the verge of closing her doors for good.

"I put my life savings into this restaurant,'' said the single mom of two.

She's tried to keep things going with takeout and cocktails to go, but every day she's open she basically loses money due to her labor costs.

Her landlord has offered to reduce her rent temporarily, but even that's up in the air.

She says, "we're taking it day by day.''

Kim is in the same predicament as so many bar and restaurant owners, facing very shaky financial times in an already difficult business. What's more for Kim, in good times she might have supplemented her lack of restaurant income from her long-established catering business Vucacious, but, yes, the lockdown order has meant no events, to cater.

Clients have canceled everything, reluctantly because they have no choice.

They've rescheduled, some of them, but for months down the road at the earliest.

What now? Kim honestly doesn't know. She summed it up pretty simply. "It's stressful."

She could be speaking for so many.