Manoa Cafe: 7326 Little River Turnpike site a, Annandale, VA 22003

How has COVID-19 affected your business?

COVID 19 hit our business really hard. When it first started we lost about half to 60% percent of our customer base, things were looking scary in the beginning of the pandemic. Now I would say about 70 to 80 percent of our customer base has come back, but sales are still kind of iffy right now because the whole political climate is back to scared.

What guidelines has your business taken to ensure everyone’s safety?

Well we follow what the health department recommends to do which is put signs everywhere we have to limit up to 25 people at any time. We have signs, tables distanced more than 6 ft apart so that people can dine in and stay in and be safe from each other.

Has strict guidelines resulted in a loss of customers now?

For the most part it is not really the employees that have trouble, it is more really how the customers react to these guidelines that is the issue. So when we usually tell customers, “oh there is a 25 person limit, you can not dine in.” Usually they will accept it, we have a few problematic customers that come in once in a while that start acting up, they are just looking for trouble.

How has the business functioned recently?

Our business has been listening to the strict guidelines, well we try to at least, because sometimes really big groups come in but we really try to stay at the 25 person limit. It is really hard because we are trying our best to do what the state recommends but people start getting violent and start acting aggressive for no reason.

How would you say the employees have adapted to these new guidelines?

I tell my employees to ignore customers that are acting out because if they start telling them more and more guidelines, they start acting more and more aggressively. So it really bothers me that it gets to that state where we have to do that and you know I care about the safety of my employees the most so honestly that is what we have to do in order for my employees to stay somewhat safe so it affects them so way because they have to worry about their safety when it comes to the actual virus but they also have to worry about people acting up as well.

Where do you see this business going in the future?

Right now I do not know a single business who is doing well beside online businesses but like every store that is around here will probably tell the same thing that things are a lot rougher than they used to be.

Taco Rock: 6550 Little River Turnpike, Alexandria, VA 22312

How has COVID-19 affected your business?

Yes COVID-19 has affected all of my businesses and then adding a 10pm curfew was a death kiss for a lot of small businesses.

What guidelines has your business taken to ensure everyone’s safety?

The guidelines that we are working with in our establishments are tables 6 feet apart, no bar service, no standing room, 10 people or less at one table for gathering, sanitize stations everywhere inside, all employees, guests must check temperatures, all employees must wear masks the entire time inside, guests must wear masks when entering.

Has strict guidelines resulted in a loss of customers now?

It’s been devastating and with little help from the government and direction it has been hard to stay alive. I feel terrible for all the employees in the restaurant business. I had to cut 50% of mine before the holidays because we could not afford to pay them. The sales just are not where they used to be. Hopefully we will get the next PPP that would help a lot of us for the time being.

How has the business functioned recently?

The business functions the same except for the guidelines I said above. A lot more delivery and to-go. I would rather guest pick up Togo from all small businesses because all the delivery apps take 15%-30% from each order. Which breaks us even or puts us in the red. But we have to keep trying to stay relevant through this tough time. That’s why a lot of us small businesses use them .

How would you say the employees have adapted to these new guidelines?

All employees have been amazing. I’m asking them to do 100% more, deal with more problems, put themselves in danger for less pay, which is not an easy thing to swallow for anyone. A lot of us have no choice and have to work . We have families and other responsibilities that we need to take care of, but most of them have been loyal and stayed with us to help any way they can. I’m very grateful for that and will do anything I can to help them on the backend when this is all over.

Where do you see this business going in the future?

We will bounce back when this is over and come out stronger than before! A lot of businesses are moving to fast casual models. I own a couple of those, which is Taco Rock and Bronx Pizza. My other businesses that are sitting down suffered a lot more. People want to be out with family and friends enjoying a good meal from a local small business. All of us are ready for this to be over and go back to a normal life as much as it can be.

Astro-Lash Babes on Instagram

How has COVID-19 affected your business?

Covid-19 hasn’t made much of an effect in my business. In fact, my business idea started when covid-19 first came around and gave me the time I needed to put into making it into a real business.

What guidelines has your business taken to ensure everyone’s safety?

New guidelines that had to be put in place was mainly limiting my space to just me and a single client in the room, no extra guests allowed, temperatures are checked before each appointment starts and everything gets sanitized/washed/changed before the next client heads in. Covid-19 testing is required before appointment if I see that a client has been travelling/partying.

Has strict guidelines resulted in a loss of customers now?

Strict guidelines have definitely made it harder for people who do not have their own way of transportation to be able to come and get their lashes done since it is a 1.5-2 hour process and we are restricted to no guests allowed, sometimes the person driving them doesn’t want to wait or make multiple trips back and forth to pick them up so I have definitely missed out on younger clients and clients with no transportation.

How has the business functioned recently?

The business has been functioning great! I have still been open regularly and have a good amount of new/returning clients to be able to keep it up with no worries.

How would you say the employees have adapted to these new guidelines?

I am the only employee/boss of my business, I would say it has been a bit harder to watch out for every single one of my clients because I am a home business and cannot afford to be bringing in clients who have covid/have not been following social distancing guidelines/travelling, but it has been fairly easy to adapt too with all the cleaning/sanitation since I do that anyways.

Where do you see this business going in the future?

I see a great future for my business, it has grown so much over the course of 4 months and it can only get bigger/better from here! I have a separate lashing room in my house away from the rest of my family and it is strictly a lashing room not my bedroom. My dream is to open a store along with 3-4 other girls who are in the beauty community and turn it into an all in one salon so I’m hoping that is where my business will be leading up too once I get out into the real world and turn my small business into a real business!

NOVA Hype on Instagram

How has COVID-19 affected your business?

Surprisingly, COVID-19 has helped my business more than it hurt it. New buyers and sellers were made because I had way more time on perfecting my business and how to make it easier for everyone to buy, sell, and trade.

What guidelines has your business taken to ensure everyone’s safety?

The guidelines I have taken were to socially distance, wear masks when I make a transaction, but the strict guidelines that has been made for shoe stores itself has been difficult for me to buy shoes in-store. To ensure the safety of my customers, I make sure to sanitize even the littlest things like the boxes that the shoes are coming from, the tongue of the shoe which is where they grab it the most, or even wearing gloves to do the deal.

Has strict guidelines resulted in a loss of customers now?

Strict guidelines didn’t really affect my business because most of my customers are on my phone anyways. I tend to check my Instagram before I wake up for school so I can make sure any messages that were sent before I went to be are read and answered.

How has the business functioned recently?

My business has been functioning pretty slowly since COVID-19 slowed it down a little bit, but that doesn’t stop me from making the transactions that is needed for my business to thrive. I usually spend most of my weekends going to meets and sneaker events to get new shoes for my business.

How would you say the employees have adapted to these new guidelines?

Being the only employee in my business, I take everything pretty seriously. Guidelines like this often gives me enough of a break to fix my Instagram page for my next post, or my next stock picture. Many businesses that I used to do transactions with don’t really operate as safely as I do and should change the way they do things because of the new rules put in to place.

Where do you see this business going in the future?

With only being a sophomore in high school, I have a lot of steps to take for me to really go big. During lunch I would take pictures of my shoes, buy shoes, or even sell them as well.

Making sure that on my off-time I am still getting things done really shows the commitment and the work ethic that I am putting into this business. I only see this business going up in a few years, but once I have my following at the amount I want, all I need is to be consistent with what I sell and my business will take care of the rest.

Teado: 7031 Little River Turnpike #14C, Annandale, VA 22003

How has COVID-19 affected your business?

Teado did close down back in March for a month and a half, but I think that right when we reopened, only one staff member came back, so we had to rehire the whole staff and even new employees as well, other then that the whole business has been going up, even with the first wave the whole business has been going up.

What guidelines has your business taken to ensure everyone’s safety?

The strict guidelines that have now been made led us to going through with closing our usual dine-in, having a mask policy in here, and we even have to force customers to wear masks, but with our occupancy limit, we try to enforce it with the low amount of people that come in the morning, but later in the day there are way more people that trying to kick them out always results in unhappy customers.

Has strict guidelines resulted in a loss of customers now?

Strict guidelines led people to complaining online on Yelp and stuff, but no loss of customers as every day is busier than the day before it.

How has the business functioned recently?

This business has been functioning as if it wasn’t a pandemic, but everyone that comes in always has a mask and respects the mask policy. We have had a few incidents where there are people with no masks, but we always give them one anyways. Everything is going back to normal slowly, but it’s been more busy and it picked up even more since COVID-19.

How would you say the employees have adapted to these new guidelines?

Many employees here have been rehired since the first wave. Following strict guidelines, we have a group chat that helps keep everyone in touch, and polls are given by our boss to see if we are open to new ideas, or reopening the dine-in feature. Employees here get tested, most of us got them together actually, but we’re strict with not hanging out with people, and we kept our masks on at work the whole time.

Where do you see this business going in the future?

In the future, we’re going to stay pretty busy. Our owner talked about reopening the dine-in, but with things that are going on now and the curfew that is going to be put into place, employees are going to wait until they are more comfortable for it to be re-released again. Teado is going well at the moment and it will probably stay busy for the few months to come.

Mochi Gloss Pops on Instagram

How has COVID-19 affected your business?

COVID 19 has affected my business especially for local deliveries. I can’t deliver anything face to face and I need to sanitize all packaging, even the outer layer, due to the pandemic. As for shipping, USPS has been backed up and some packages have taken much longer to arrive to the customer, especially for international orders.

What guidelines has your business taken to ensure everyone’s safety?

As always, even without COVID 19, my business always cleans materials. I usually use Clorox wipes, baking soda, and dish soap. Dish soap is a unique cleaning tool but is crucial for lip gloss businesses like mine because it’s safe for items going toward people’s mouths, similar to our everyday forks, spoons, or cups. I also wear gloves and a mask when making my products.

Has strict guidelines resulted in a loss of customers now?

These guidelines have not resulted in a loss of customers! Being an e-commerce business, customers are moving away from buying in-store products and toward businesses that are online. This way, only I am handling products before the customer gets it instead of every person in a store touching the products before someone buys it. These guidelines are also extremely similar to normal guidelines since this business has always been as clean and hygienic as possible.

How has the business functioned recently?

The business has been functioning well. It’s running smoothly especially since I’m working alone with few family helpers.

How would you say the employees have adapted to these new guidelines?

New guidelines have resulted in employees having to use masks and not be able to make deliveries in person. I personally don’t have many employees, so it hasn’t been much of a change!

Where do you see this business going in the future?

This business is a fun hobby for me, and so I’d like for it to grow. So far, most of my orders come from the US and few in Europe! I would like to have more orders from around the world.