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COURTESY OF CREATURE COMFORTS
The Classic Center repurposed one of its halls for Florida-based BYOPIanet to manufacture sanitizing equipment.
loans apply through their banks.
Kevin Lang, a business attorney with
Fortson, Bentley and Griffin law firm who
is familiar with the terms of the loans,
said that “most borrowers should have the
entire loan forgiven.” He added that almost
certainly more applications will be filed
than there are funds available..
The second program, called Economic
Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), is adminis
tered by the Small Business Administration
(SBA) and provides low-interest loans for
small businesses, tribal businesses and
nonprofit organizations. Applications are
online at the SBA’s website, sba.gov. The
program is designed to get money quickly
to companies for multiple uses, waiving
typical qualifying information. Unlike the
PPP loans, EIDL’s need to be repaid.
Companies are free to apply for both
types of loans. Some conditions apply,
should a company be accepted for both
programs.
Clocked owner Lisa Yaconelli described
the process of signing up for the PPP as
“fairly simple.” Yaconelli reached out to her
banker and obtained an initial identifying
form that, once accepted by the govern
ment, bounced back a more comprehensive
four-page form that required additional
financial information. Above the signature
line, she was asked to commit to a num
ber of “certifications and authorizations,”
including a commitment to purchase
American-made goods as much as possible.
At this writing, she has not learned when
she will receive the money.
In the meantime, like many restaurants,
Clocked remains open, serving burgers and
tots from an abbreviated menu for pickup
and delivery from 4-8 p.m. Two chefs
cook in the kitchen, presumably giving
each other six feet of space, while a cashier
brings food to hungry customers waiting at
a new window installed by the restaurant’s
landlord. ©
specific occasions. The cards are then sent
to customers with envelopes stamped with
first-class postage.
Meanwhile, new nonprofits are spring
ing up to help mitigate the economic
damage to local businesses. The Athens
Works Initiative is the brainchild of New
Urban Forestry owner Kevin Hamman, who
wanted to encourage local businesses to join
him in helping local restaurants weather the
crisis. Company owners still operating take
a pledge on the AWI website, athenswork-
sinitiative.com, to support participating
local restaurants. So far, 25 companies have
pledged to support these restaurants and
are ordering lunches for their employees.
Local organizer Fenwick Broyard said that
he hopes that the program becomes well
known among Athenians in time for the
much-awaited arrival of CARES stimulus
checks.
The Athens Convention and Visitors
Bureau also promotes local restaurants on
its website, where the organization has
posted this publication’s list of restaurants
providing curbside service. (Flagpole has a
similar online list, updated regularly.)
Help Is on the Way
To take advantage of part of the $2 tril
lion CARES relief program, local business
owners and self-employed individuals alike
are applying for two basic forms of eco
nomic disaster aid.
First, there is the $350 billion Payroll
Protection Program that provides compa
nies and nonprofits with the funds to keep
their employees on the payroll for 10 weeks,
or 2.5 times a company’s average monthly
payroll for 2019, in the program’s first
round. Self-employed and “gig economy”
workers are also eligible to apply. Though
the funds are referred to as loans, the debt
will be forgiven if employers keep their
workers on the payroll. Companies seeking
feature
Adapt and Survive
ATHENS BUSINESSES REACT TO THE NEW NORMAL
By Dan Jackson news@flagpole.com
W e are seeing the world as we’ve never
seen it in our lifetimes. Traffic on
our highways is a thing of the past. As the
smog lifted, Indians in the Punjab region
reported that they could now see Mount
Everest, hundreds of miles away, for the
first time since World War II. Seismologists
are recording a huge drop in “seismic noise”
as the entire world parks its cars and trucks,
shuts down businesses and huddles inside
with phones. And here in Athens, it’s easy
to get a parking space downtown—but
where would you go, except to pick up food
from once-buzzing restaurants?
The visible part of Athens’ business com
munity—the retailers, bars and restaurants
that make up so much of the town’s appeal
and culture—have gone online or otherwise
changed their business models in response
to the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses
are adapting to this new normal with cre
ativity, finding new ways to serve their
customers and keep their employees on the
payroll. At the same time, these companies
are taking advantage of the federal bene
fits made possible by the recently passed
CARES economic relief act, mitigating the
damage caused when the economy turned
upside down.
Local brewery Creature Comforts is making and selling hand sanitizer in
beer bottles.
The Classic Center is humming once
again after laying off most of its employ
ees—not with concerts or plays or con
ferences, but with manufacturing and
distribution. As part of the deals it negoti
ated, the new tenants are hiring back many
Classic Center staff members who would
otherwise be unemployed.
The first company, BYOPIanet, has
moved its production from Florida to Grand
Hall G, a 30,000 square-foot space, to build
sanitizing machines. These devices spray
disinfectant accompanied by an electrical
charge that helps the product stick to sur
faces, making the process much faster. In
exchange for low rent, BYOPIanet has hired
about 40 laid-off Classic Center employ
ees. Paul Cramer, executive director of the
Classic Center, said the extendable two-
month lease came together almost imme
diately after the center had to cancel all its
upcoming events.
The Dean Group has leased a large
event space in the Foundry Street
Warehouses, the older building behind
the Classic Center, to distribute LynkTrak
Technologies’ personal protective equip
ment (PPE), such as gloves, masks and
gowns. Robert Finch, head of the Dean
Group, said that LynkTrak will begin man
ufacturing these items in Athens beginning
in fall 2020, eventually hiring up to 25
Classic Center employees. Another hall will
be used by volunteers to sew face masks for
local hospitals.
Meanwhile, other local companies con
tinue to rise to the challenges presented
by the crisis. As Creature Comforts has
shifted to a curbside delivery mode, the
company has seen its tasting room revenue
drop dramatically. When
hand sanitizer became
scarce, CEO Chris Herron
and his brewers, guided
by the World Health
Organization’s recipe,
created a gel using the
isopropyl alcohol they use
to clean their equipment.
The product, dubbed
Clean Creature, will be
sold in 500 milliliter beer
bottles at the brewery’s
drive through window,
reached via a driveway
off Washington Street.
Herron said that he has
been able to keep all his
employees on the payroll.
With its small foot
print, Daily Groceries
Co-op has adopted a strict
curbside format, with no
customers entering the
store. Customers enter
their order on the store’s
website, pay with a credit
card, and are given a date
and time to pick up their
orders.
Monira Silk, the owner
of the local baby shop
Reblossom, continues to
serve her customers by offering Zoom and
Facebook meetings for story time, advice
on breastfeeding, and yoga classes, among
other services. Since the store is now closed
to walk-ins, Silk will even FaceTime with
customers to show her products.
In addition to offering her customary
range of titles online, Avid Bookshop
owner Janet Geddis has reached out to her
shop’s greeting card customers, offering to
hand-select snail-mail greeting cards for
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FLAGPOLE.COM | APRIL 15, 2020
COURTESY OF THE CLASSIC CENTER