Although many restaurants remain closed during the pandemic, for those who stay open, it’s still a problem to eat and eat – and even one restaurant owner in Los Angeles has been forced to close a store, reports CBS Los Angeles.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a growing number of restaurants in the city have struggled with scammers using internet orders to use fraudulent credit cards or to request refunds, claiming they never received a portion or an entire order.
The Korean Fusion Cafe ‘Spoon by H’ had the ingredients to become an LA success story, but is the epitome of a small business, with owner and chef Yoonjin Hwang spending 15 hours with her mother and brother the restaurant management.
“We have no staff. We have no cooks. I have to do everything alone,” Hwang said. “Like so many other small businesses, we suffered the pandemic. All we could do was just take it day by day and do everything in our power to stay afloat.”
But as restaurants increasingly receive takeaway orders online and via apps, they face a new challenge called ‘friendly fraud’ or ‘refunds’. In the scam, a customer orders food, often through a delivery service, then receives his meal, but disputes the cost with their credit card company to get a refund.
One day, Hwang received her largest order ever, for more than $ 700.
“He came and he picked up the food, and then he disputed the charge a week later,” Hwang said.
She lost the food and the money, and it kept happening – over and over.
“I just felt so incredibly helpless and frustrated. We just could not continue to run our business that way,” she said. Therefore, she made the decision to close the restaurant forever. Saturday is her last day, much to the dismay of her customers.
“When I found out it was closing, I was just devastated,” said Alyse Whitney, a customer.
But patrons see her struggling and step in to help and earn more than $ 60,000 on a GoFundMe page.
Hwang said: “It was a wonderful reminder that there is more good in the people around us and in our communities.”
Hwang plans to pay off her debt with the money raised and said she may consider opening a new business with the earnings one day, but she does not know when or what kind of business.