WTC x Lunar Small Business Accelerator

At Welcome to Chinatown, one of our main goals is to improve the self-sustainability of local businesses. Chinatown’s small businesses have been disproportionately burdened by a lack of access to resources and funding opportunities even prior to the pandemic. We listened to the issues our small business owners were facing and launched our first Small Business Accelerator this past June. This accelerator aims to offer the traditional startup accelerator model of mentorship, capital, and connections while tailoring it to local small businesses.

We’ve partnered with Lunar to create this Small Business Accelerator program to help restaurants execute small but impactful ways to delight current customers and to bring in new ones. Lunar’s cofounders, Kevin and Sean, not only have industry expertise but also care deeply about supporting the community in which they grew up. Currently, they pledge 1% of product, profit, and time to causes that support the AAPI community. Lunar has been instrumental in guiding the restaurant owners through this Accelerator and adapting it to their needs. We have also been fortunate to work with With Warm Welcome’s Founder, Arnold Byun. Using his past experience in hospitality, he has provided the restaurant owners with practical advice and service improvements.

The Small Business Accelerator with Lunar is underway with two local restaurants in Chinatown. Even though the Accelerator is mainly focused on education and diversifying the beverage menu, we've learned a lot about other elements that come into play. With the help of WTC’s design team, we are executing more holistic yet efficient changes that we hope the restaurants can use and learn from quickly. Here's what we've worked on:

• reviewing point of sale data to understand profit margins and total revenue

• redesigning the menu to make it easier for consumers

• interior and exterior design improvements to create ambiance

• developing a service playbook to improve the customer experience

We look forward to closing out our pilot, sharing learnings with our followers, and expanding the Small Business Accelerator in the near future. Thank you to our dedicated partners at Lunar and With Warm Welcome! 

Our Small Business Accelerator is made possible by the generous gifts of our donors. Please consider making a donation to the Longevity Fund to help us continue our small business support. Welcome to Chinatown is here to help say that Chinatown will always be open for business.