As the Sacramento region weathers another shutdown, some new businesses have opened up during the pandemic. “We knew it was going to be tough,” said David Abrahamsen.Abrahamsen and his business partner opened Midtown Spirits on Nov. 11. The pair were excited to open what they call the first distillery in the City of Sacramento since Prohibition. But the pandemic has not made their mission it easy. They were able to squeeze in a couple days of indoor dining and a week of outdoor dining on their newly built patio before having to shut down. “The hard part with us being new is that no one’s really had a chance to come in and try stuff,” Abrahamsen said. Now, the distillery is relying solely on takeout. Abrahamsen said they decided to open despite the pandemic because this was their plan two years in the making. “We’re concerned. But we’re gonna ride it out and see what we can do and hopefully get through this,” he said. In Downtown Sacramento, Holy Slice opened on Nov. 16. “Pizza is everyone’s favorite takeout,” said Ibrahim Abukhdair. The family-owned operation opened up the Halal pizza kitchen after their Mediterranean buffet in the same location closed down eight months ago because of the pandemic. “Buffets aren’t known to be takeout places. This was a great concept when the state workers and the county workers and everyone was downtown,” said Abukhdair.The owners decided to shift gears and focus on takeout with their new restaurant, in part, to weather COVID restrictions. “You got to keep trying,” said Abukhdair.Another new business, The Strong Stuff Coffee Company, launched in November as well. The difference with this new company is that it is online only. “I solely relied on the community. I relied on social media influencers within Sacramento,” said owner Caleb Fong. The coffee company sold out in the first two weeks, and Fong said that is a testament to Sacramento’s support of small businesses. He said he is mindful of the pandemic and is selling cold brew and ground coffee digitally only. “We’re handling it safely,” Fong said. “We’re either delivering it to them or shipping it to them. If we do drop-offs, we don’t make contact.”From highly caffeinated coffee to locally distilled spirits, Sacramento entrepreneurs said they are thankful to their community as they try to get off the ground. “I am feeling that,” said Abukhdair. “That’s exactly why we did this is we know that Sacramento has the back of its individual entrepreneurs who go out there and actually open these businesses especially during a time like this.”Abrahamsen could not agree more.“The response from the community has been great. And we couldn’t ask for anything more. And we greatly appreciate it,” he said.
As the Sacramento region weathers another…
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