To support customers facing financial hardship during the pandemic, Spokane bakery Sweetbox Delivery has discounted its bagels by 50 percent and is offering an order now, pay later "bagel loan" program.
"The whole point behind all of it was to just give people some time, give them something to look forward to," Sweetbox owner Clay Cerna says.
Customers who take advantage of the pay-later promotion will get an invoice after June 1. The promotion is currently set to run through May 4, and orders can be placed online at sweetboxdelivery.com.
Most of Sweetbox's business is wholesale orders from coffee stands, grocery stores and cafes, many of which are temporarily closed. While Sweetbox's retail orders haven't been enough to completely make up for those wholesale losses, Cerna says he's had more retail orders in the last three weeks than in the past three years since Sweetbox opened.
Cerna also owns the downtown commercial kitchen River City Kitchen, which opened in the Spokane Intermodal Center late last year. To support small businesses using the space, Cerna opted to suspend rent payments through June for his seven tenants, including a caterer, hot sauce maker and hot dog cart.
"Hopefully it'll help out with companies that can operate right now, and they can keep employees on payroll," he says. ♦
