BUSHWICK, Brooklyn (WABC) — New York City is launching a new loan program to help small businesses grow and expand, and one of the first recipients is a Manhattan chef who’s using the loan to bring his popular dish to a new neighborhood.
The inventor of the popular kimchi burger is expanding from the East Village to Brooklyn thanks to funding from the New York City Department of Small Business Services.
Nowon’s most popular dish is its legendary cheeseburger, served on top of shredded kimchi.
“We put a little bit of raw white onion on the bottom, and we also use kimchi in the sauce,” says Nowon chef and owner Jay Lee. “We have two four-ounce patties, so a half-pound of meat. It’s a hearty burger.”
The burger is what enabled Chef Lee to open his second location — his first restaurant in the East Village, his newest in Bushwick — but getting financing from traditional lenders wasn’t enough to get him to Brooklyn.
“Absolutely not, because I have no partners or investors,” Lee said. “I really needed a loan because I used all my savings to open this shop and only borrowed from my brother and parents.”
So he turned to the New York City Department of Small Business Services, which gave him a loan with a larger upfront amount, nearly half the interest rate, and tripled the repayment term.
Kevin Kim is the Administrator of the Department of Small Business Services, which launched the loan fund last February, the largest public-private partnership loan fund ever for small businesses.
“In one year, we were able to deploy $85 million in capital to over 1,000 small businesses,” Kim said, “80 percent of which are minority- and women-owned businesses, 69 percent are BIPC-owned businesses, and 59 percent are businesses owned by low- and moderate-income communities.”
That fund expired several months ago, but given its success, the city is now putting more money into it, and on Wednesday it plans to announce the 2.0 Evergreen version of the fund.
Also on Wednesday, the city will host its first-ever Small Business Expo, offering a variety of free information, resources and direct services to meet the needs of small business owners at all stages, industries and boroughs.
“The city has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with thousands of businesses going bankrupt or on the brink of closing,” Kim said. “So we said we needed an infusion of capital to help new businesses open, and the numbers prove it: more than one in six businesses open today opened since the Adams administration.”
Kim is also the first Korean American to serve as a city agency commissioner, and when he steps down next month, he will leave behind an accomplishment he never could have imagined.
Nowon now employs more than 50 staff members and is working to spread Korean pizza from the East Village to Brooklyn.
If you’re a small business looking for financial assistance, check the city’s website for more information.
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