Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

October 31, 2012

Businesses large and small improvise to keep operating

They drive employees to work, use coffee shops for offices and shift their staffs to other locations.

The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Two days after Superstorm Sandy brought business in New York City to a standstill, stores that lost power are again serving customers, albeit by flashlight. Companies with closed offices are setting up shop in coffeehouses. And the owner of the Starlight Diner is borrowing bacon from his neighbors because the restaurant's cupboard is bare.

The world's financial center is struggling to get back to work as it deals with a subway system that's still crippled by the worst damage in its 108-year-history and power outages in major sections of the city. As a result, big multinational banks are in the same proverbial boat as corner bodegas: looking for creative ways to get their businesses back up and running.

For Teddy Papaioannou, that meant calling in some favors. The co-owner of the Starlight Diner on Wednesday was running low on supplies at his midtown Manhattan restaurant, so he borrowed a few pounds of bacon from his neighbors who are also small-business owners.

Papaioannou, who owns the diner with his brother and father, was so eager to open that they chauffeured employees around on Tuesday and Wednesday. They picked up a total of 20 workers for various shifts over the two-day period.

"Closing for three days would ruin us for a month," he said.

Lost sales were a big motivator for other business owners too. William Badie, owner of Food Fair market and deli, estimated that he lost $8,000 by being closed Monday and Tuesday. So he made sure he was open Wednesday. Only one of his usual three staffers could make it into work, so he paid for him to get there.

In powerless lower Manhattan, things got even trickier for businesses that wanted to reopen. Below 31st Street, most stores were closed, but a few found a way to get customers.

Bareburger in the Chelsea neighborhood was grilling burgers outside and giving them away, asking only for donations for the Red Cross. Workers had iced down the restaurant's meat, but decided to grill after they realized it wouldn't be good after Wednesday.

Employees at Foursquare Inc., the mobile location service, were working from homes or nearby coffee shops Wednesday, another in a line of tech companies where virtual doors were open even though the physical office remained closed.

Meanwhile, financial giants such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley -- all with operations in the evacuated zone downtown -- were able to keep open by shifting work to offices in other areas of the city and neighboring states.

 

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