New Jersey is one of the countries that has been hit harshly by the coronavirus in the United States. When authorities ordered the restriction of activities and operations involving restaurants, the Albanian-American owner and chef of the Amici restaurant in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Alex Daku, took action to feed people in need and those in the front line with the virus. In a conversation through Zoom with the VOA journalist Keida Kostreci, Mr. Daku showed what motivated him and how he is adapting to the new business conditions.
Alex says the first few days when restrictive measures were taken, it was difficult for him and his team. He had to fire some employees.
"We never closed the restaurant and managed to get half of the workers back to work after we fired some of them," he said.
All employees have returned to work.
The key to recovery was the desire to help.
"By opening the restaurant only to-go for food to take home, we also offered free soup to those over 65."
The campaign in helping expanded when Alex and his team decided to provide free food for those who could not afford to buy it, as well as to distribute free food to employees who are on the front lines of the war with the coronavirus. The community began to help, buying from him food or restaurant cards.
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| Screenshot of Alex Daku in his interview to VOA |
"I decided to offer free food to anyone who doesn't have food, to come here without question to get food for their children and their family. And I did, because I personally felt there were a lot of people in need, where no office was functioning, where unemployment was rising day by day. The impact was so great that I got a lot of calls from the community to help. We are moving at a very fast pace. After returning most of the workers, we also decided to help the whole community, those who are in the front line: the police, firefighters, everyone, then doctors and nurses who are in trouble with life, risking their lives for others.
40 percent of the profits from the restaurant are used for free food for those who are on the front line, distributing food twice a week.
"It's possible that this will increase because economic support is very high in the community and it makes you move forward, work harder, give something to this community that has made me the person I am today," he says.
In this time of the pandemic, Alex's business has grown, after the first difficulties.
"This is something really special because when you give, God gives you. And it worked. When I started it, I didn’t start thinking will give me. "I thought I was working in America for 20 years, the community helped me, why not give something back."
However, he welcomes the assistance provided by the US administration and Congress in supporting businesses like his.
Alex, who immigrated to Italy as a young man when he was young and studied culinary arts, had several other reasons to emigrate to the United States except for the human impulse of the luring American Dream.
"We, as immigrants, have suffered a lot to move from one country to another. One of these moves was the fleeing to Italy when I was 17 years old. I was at school and had no bread to eat and we went to the queue to get free food. "Given that we have taken a very difficult path to get somewhere, I feel responsible no matter how small this cause is, to give something back to the people who have supported us for so many years."
He says helping others is part of his family tradition, as his maternal grandfather had shops before World War II, and not only did he help with free food, but he also forgave all the debts of those who could not afford to pay.
The reaction to his campaign has been extraordinary, says Alex.
"Only messages when I read over 100 messages a day, when they thank me for what I'm doing, make me work 15 hours without any fatigue."
He says it gives him pride.
"There are days when I come at 6 in the morning with my whole team, so that the food goes on time where it should go, for example to the doctors, and that makes me very proud."
Alex has opened an account on the gofundme site, where people contribute if they want for the foods he distributes for free.
In one of the most affected US countries, Alex says as a resident that the concern is present, but for him, the impulse to help, turned into a formula for success for the business, even in these difficult times.