FRIDAY FEBRUARY 24TH MARKED THE CLOSING OF THE NORRIS RESTAURANT AND FRANCHISE VIET NOM NOM
(music)
VIET NOM NOM OWNER ALAN MOY SAYS THAT COVID MADE SUSTAINING THE BUSINESS VERY DIFFICULT
[Alan] so we had one heck of a run and its been almost 8 years in the making and 3 in the pandemic, and we have done everything we certainly can to have had one heck of a story, we’ve done everything to grow even during a very difficult time but you know as we continue to trudge through this very challenging market place and environment and economy, things haven’t seemingly got much easier on us. We’ve certainly seen costs go up astronomically in many ways 20% 500% sometimes on food costs, packaging wages are way up rents have gone up on us just a whole bunch of factors.
[nat sound door opening and closing chimes]
ALAN SAYS THE BUSINESS HAS HAD RECENT SUCCESS BUT THE OVERALL COSTS ARE JUST TOO OVERWHELMING TO CONTINUE
[Alan] We have had our biggest sale year ever for example in 2022 which were so proud of but at the same time, some of our costs are so much higher than ever.
HE SAYS THAT THE LOCATIONS WORK SYMBIOTICALLY SO WHEN ONE LOCATION IS STRUGGLING, SO IS THE ENTIRE BUSINESS
[Alan] We’ve built this to be very symbiotic across our locations but at the same time with all these challenges, symbiotic type dynamics also make it challenging so its hard to decouple you know all of our different realestate prints so we have a couple of locations open in Evanston we had a couple of locations in Chicago and just the timing to do all the re-inventing ourselves one more time and to take extra efforts to sort of consolidate our operations and like I said reinvent ourselves, it just seemed like this was the time to pause.
ALAN UNDERSTANDS THAT THE CLOSURE IS CHALLENGING FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED, ESPECIALLY HIS EMPLOYEES, SO HE HOPES TO ASSIST THEM AS THEY TRANSITION
[Alan] Taking care of my team is absolutely paramount, every shift every closing shift every conversation I’ve had with my team members we’re trying to support them. So we’ve literally I was in the office of the compass group management team just singing the praises of one of my team leaders today at the end of my conversations and thank yous at Norris i’ve been on the phone both times today speaking to some of our work force development partners so we have alot of community partners our tendency over at the Hatcery down in East Garfield Park, we have so many amazing resources and that includes some wonderful individuals who can really and literally help my team members be placed at other jobs, make phone calls for them, help them with their resume writing help them with their interview prep I have individuals from that group coming out physically in person next tuesday so we have some extra shifts for people to break down clean up you know pack up our store.
VIET NOM NOM WORKER AT NORRIS, GIOVANNI PATINO, ENJOYED WORKING FOR THE RESTAURANT AND IS SAD TO MOVE ON
[Giovanni Patino] For me and like I could say it all of us like I could say we all like really enjoyed working here actually as you could tell we finished.. We ended up breaking it down and everything but all do means like for real it was just a bless working with everyone here.
NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS ARE ALSO GOING TO MISS VIET NOM NOM AT NORRIS
[Viet Nom Nom rice bowl container being opened]
NORTHWESTERN STUDENT, ASHER VANK, WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO HIS GO-TO RICE BOWL FROM VIET NOM NOM FOR LUNCH TODAY BUT WAS DISAPPOINTED WHEN HE WAS TOLD THE RESTAURANT WAS CLOSED, FOR GOOD.
[Asher Vank] I feel like it was one of my favorite restaurants in Norris for sure and I didn’t know it was like closing worldwide which is also kind of nuts so I don’t know I learned about it today it was sad.
ANOTHER STUDENT, EMMA LEUZIL, IS ALSO DISAPPOINTED THAT THEIR GO-TO RESTAURANT AT NORRIS IS NOW CLOSED.
[Emma Leuzil] I’m sad, I really liked it I often forget to use my dining dollars but whenever I’m at Norris that’s like the first place I turn to, to get food.
ALAN APPRECIATES EVERYONE WHO ENJOYED VIET NOM NOM SO HE CHOSE TO CLOSE OUT HIS RESTAURANT ON FRIDAY WITH A CELEBRATION
[Alan] I would never call this a goodbye I would just call this an opportunity to serve you once more and thank you just look forward to having a few extra smiles tomorrow.
[Music]
[Door closing]
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M MORIAH PETTWAY
