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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2020)
PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 13, 2020 Without COVID lifeline, new restaurants relying on local support, collaboration BY LAUREN MURPHY Of the Keizrtimes Opening a restaurant is al- ways a risky endeavor, but opening during a pandemic with the ever looming threat of a lockdown is a real roll of the dice. Nevertheless three new restaurants have chosen to make Keizer their new home– and now they’re in need of community support. Though there is some COVID relief available for small businesses, the grants require records from pre- COVID to prove that a busi- ness has been affected. Because the Chicken Shack, Wicked Sweet Bakery and El Vaquero Santa Maria BBQ opened up afterwards, they are ineligible for the grants. If these new restaurants are going to survive it will be based off of sales and rev- enue generation. In short, they need Keizerites to start coming through. “Every person who owns a storefront here started with a dream,” said Markey Toomes, who co-owns The Chicken Shack with his wife Monica. Monica was handling the store during the interview time. Markey’s specifi c dream was to own a franchise of his family’s favorite restaurant, the Chicken Shack. Original- ly from California, they fell in love with Oregon on a camp- ing trip and decided to relo- cate. The Toomes family found Keizer charming and after a year of planning, praying and searching, they opened The Chicken Shack’s fi rst Oregon location in the Keizer Village. “COVID is here and that has to be taken seriously, but to say that it’s strong enough to take away the dreams we’ve had? We can’t allow that,” Toomes said. “Every person who owns a storefront here started with a dream.” — Markey Toomes Chicken Shack owner Though they came here to sell chicken, they also want to invest in the community. Part of why they love Keizer Village is because of all the communi- ty events the shopping center hosts – most of which have been canceled due to COVID. “The other day at six o’clock half of my dining room was full of people in ka- rate gear and gis. That’s not a liability, that’s a benefi t to the Gift tags hanging for Giving Baskets The Keizer Network of Women’s Giving Basket pro- gram takes on heightened importance this year due to COVID-19. The annual pro- gram provides boxes of food and toys for area families in need. The public is encouraged to take part in the Giving Tags part of the project. The public can get tags with the names of children and their gift wish items from trees at 12 loca- tions around Keizer. Unwrapped gifts are due back to the location where the tags were chosen no later than Friday, Dec. 4. Giving Basket tags can be found at Mommy and Maddi’s (4765 River Rd. N); Los Dos Hermanos (3950 River Rd. N); Willamette Valley Bank (5140 River Rd. N); Co- lumbia Bank (4260 River Rd. N); Courthouse Club Fitness (117 McNary Estates Dr. N); St. Edward Catholic Church (5303 River Rd. N); Copy Cats Keizer (3800 River Rd. N): , Physiq Fitness (3850 Riv- er Rd. N): Celtic Self Storage (1101 Chemawa Rd. N): The Chicken Shack (3844 River community,” Toomes said. They gave over 50 kids free meals because of their accom- plishments at the Keizer ATA, a martial arts studio. The Chick- en Shack is also hosting Cook’s Night Out on Wednesday, Nov. 18. “We would love to see the community come out and support us. We understand that they’re going through the same things we’re going through, it’s not like something where we’re asking them to carry us, but at the same time we do need their support for us to stay around,” Toomes said. Their neighbor, Wicked Sweet Bakery, also started from a dream. Michael Peters and his wife, Kati, owned and op- erated The Doughnut Shop in Stayton for a little over a year before moving to Keizer with the hopes of making more money to support their family. Kati was busy prepping for the next day and was not present at the interview. “There’s just less foot traf- fi c than we had anticipated. In Stayton, which is a tiny town, I had more customers per day than I do here, and we did not expect that” Peters said. In Stayton they focused on specialty donuts, but the larger space in Keizer has al- lowed them to expand to a full bakery with scones, cup- cakes, cakes and donuts. They were originally slated to open in November of 2019, but got caught up in permitting issues and weren’t able to open until June. “It hurt us because we didn’t have all the foot traf- fi c to get known before it all closed down. I think it would have helped if we opened [then],” Peters said. Though he added from an employee standpoint it was probably bet- ter because they did not have to go through months of un- employment. When the bakery opened in June they kept their lob- by closed in an effort to be as COVID-conscious as possible, but with winter around the corner they’ve opened up their lobby to keep customers out of the harsher weather. The Peters are friendly peo- ple who love food, and when they make friends with other people who love food, collab- oration happens. So far Wicked Sweet Bakery has collabora- tion donuts in the works with The Chicken Shack, Uncle Troy’s BBQ and Sweet Licks. “I’m like, ‘Hey, you guys have chicken, I have a waffl e, let’s put them together,” Peter’s said. They are exploring more savory options for their menu. El Vaquero expanded from a catering business to a sit-down restaurant in hopes of making more money, as COVID has been extremely rough on the catering business. They’re pay- ing the bills but it comes with a price. “We’re probably sitting at 60% take out right now com- pared to dine in,” said Orlando Cepeda, who owns El Vaquero ‘You guys have chicken, I have a waffl e, let’s put them together.’ — Michael Peters Wicked Sweet owner “I think it’s at par level for the situation we’re at right now and we’ve been very sup- ported by the community, and we’re very grateful for that,” Cepeda said. According to the professionals he talked to be- fore opening the restaurant, he expected more than 50% of orders to be take out. Cepeda believes that this is the new normal for the time being, but he hopes one day he will be able to make person- al connections with everyone who buys his food. “I’d love to see everybody’s faces that eat our food. I’m al- ways out on the fl oor, talking to folks and seeing their smile and hearing them say how wonderful the food is, but when people take it out you don’t get that same satisfac- tion,” Cepeda said. All of the business own- ers understand that the com- munity has been hit hard by COVID, but since they don’t qualify for any of the aid they are in more need of commu- nity support than some larger, chain restaurants. Wicked Sweet Bakery and The Chicken Shack are lo- cated in the Keizer Village on River Road. El Vaquero Santa Maria BBQ is on River Road next to Dutch Bros. “Thank you to the commu- nity for supporting us, we look forward to meeting more folks out there and we look forward to having you come in and say hello,” Cepeda said. BARGAINS OF THE MONTH ® 14.99 7 SAVE $ 4.99 Holiday Wonderland® 200 ct. LED Mini Light Set T 195 539, 540, 541 B6 100 ct. LED Traditional Mini Light Set, 6.99 L 501 272 1 True Value® Wild Bird Food, 20-Lbs. 6.99 Rd. N) and Keizer Liquor Store (5021 River Rd. N). For information about Giv- ing Tags or to volunteer to sort food, wrap gifts or delivery Giving Baskets in December call the Keizer Chamber of Commerce at 503-393-9111. Holiday Wonderland® 100 ct. Starry Micro LED String Light Set T 251 503, 504, 508 B12 17.99, 300 ct. Starry Micro LED String Light Set T 251 509, 510, 511 B4 T 195 548, 549, 550, 551, 552, 553, 554, 557 B12 SAVE 8 $ 89 $ VALUE R 268 794 2 Black 49.99 & Decker® 50 pc. 20V Max Cordless Drill & Tool Set © 2020 True Value Company LLC. While supplies last. Individual stores may choose not to participate. Participating stores have the right to limit quantities and set their own prices. Prices good through November 30, 2020. We Didn’t Set The Bar WE ARE THE BAR! “ This community is beautiful and the whole staff is so attentive FOLLOW THE KEIZERTIMES ON: with his wife, Kelly. Though it’s a good thing that people are eating their food, Cepeda miss- es the face to face interaction. and caring! The atmosphere is engaging and respectful and it is so good to know that Mom is in such good hands. 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