Dear Friends,
COVID-19 has reared its head once again in Vietnam with the latest wave closing down all restaurants and cafes. This has impacted, of course, KOTO Cafe by Tan My Design and KOTO Villa, which has moved to delivery and takeaway.
These lockdowns come at a trying time for KOTO Foundation as we need to move the location of our training centre. Yen Vien, Gia Lam has been the home of our trainees for the past 5 years. During this time, the location has housed, fed and educated over 400 lives. Our lease, however, expires on the 15th of June 2021. After a failed negotiation which means our landlord increased our rent and the road is to be widened (bringing a lot of noise pollution and disruption to a living and study environment) we have collectively decided that we must move. We are beyond lucky and appreciative that the BAYA family has a factory that they are closing in Eco Park and will be leasing this to us. We’ve crunched the numbers and it makes fiscal sense. This will mean we reduce our expenditure by 3/4 each month and help our operations and school remain open.
However, with these unforeseen costs and our restaurants and cafes closed, we’re once again asking for your support. Social enterprises such as KOTO truly must rely on the kindness of donations to help us through these difficult times. With a lockdown comes a significant drop in revenue. Our profits decrease but our costs remain the same. We still have a duty of care for 140 trainees who are currently enrolled in our two-year hospitality program. If you’re unable to order delivery from KOTO Villa, we kindly request you consider a donation to our COVID-19 Continuity Fund. By doing so, you’re giving hope to a young person who needs it now more than ever. Hope for a brighter future. Hope for a better life. Hope for a better tomorrow.
As always, we are so humbled and thankful for the support we have received and our hearts go out to everyone in the hospitality industry who are trying to keep things going. We will survive!
Best wishes,
Jimmy Pham
