Is This NIRVANA?! Small Business Survival While Social Distancing

By Caleb Sekeres.

Acknowledging a passion’s failure must be one of the more painful experiences in life, though I am not sure working long days in a barely occupied bar during a pandemic qualifies as a passion. Perhaps if I added some rum to my passion, I could sell it as a cocktail for 7,000 won. These are the ideas that come and go when the bar business is brutal.

Yunoo and I are fortunate, since we have survived COVID-19 so far. Or rather our business, Nirvana, has. Other businesses have not survived, or have had to change, contorting themselves into something completely different. Government restrictions have handled small businesses and “high-risk” businesses like a yo-yo, requiring them to close at irregular times for several months. Restaurants, bars, and cafes have taken financial hits as if Mike Tyson were their boxing opponent. High-risk businesses like Nirvana, which has been allowed to remain open with restrictions, are lucky compared to businesses with different licenses, which have been forced to close indefinitely. Many will never open again, while some have changed and survived.

I admire business owners who can transform their focus so completely, as one bar in my neighborhood has done. It morphed into a chicken restaurant with takeout and delivery, a smart move when restrictions desiccate your client base. Can you imagine running a bar that has to close at 9 p.m., just when most customers are going out to drink? But chicken is socially acceptable anytime!

Yunoo and I, who opened Nirvana a few weeks before COVID-19 began to spread throughout Korea, have not rebranded our business in any way. However, we have implemented and followed a few survival techniques with varying success.

Nirvana began as a neighborhood bar in Jisan-dong, near Chosun University. It is a “mom and pop” place, a bar run by family owners. Our two sons occasionally accompany us to the bar during off-hours in the hopes of getting an orange Fanta soda or a Hansen’s Root Beer. The boys will climb onto the black and silver barstools and “belly up to the bar,” demanding service from me, while I am putting dishes and glasses away or washing out the food garbage bucket. Glamorous pandemic work.

“Barkeep! I would like a drink and some chocolate,” they often say. My boys are five and eight years old. I usually grunt a reply or stick a bottle of whisky in front of them, hoping they will drink a shot and fall asleep for a few hours so I can get some work done. When I finish my work at Nirvana, the boys clamber down from the high barstools, struggling to find solid ground like some of our adult customers after a night of revelry. These days, we are all looking for sure footing.

Yet even during the pandemic, Nirvana has had a few bright spots in an otherwise tough 14 months. When possible, we hold live music events, inviting a few performers to come and play for an audience that is hungry for entertainment and, of course, alcohol. These events have been held every six to eight weeks, though occasionally they have been postponed or canceled when the number of pandemic cases in Gwangju creeps too high. We always provide hand sanitizer, we require QR Codes and sign-ins, and we perform temperature checks. We ask our customers to maintain social distance. It is difficult predicting how many people will attend events, even when we ask for RSVPs, but so far we have had some good performances with a reasonable number of attendees. And during restricted business hours, we adapted and held music events in the afternoon instead of in the evening.

Survival technique number 12: Change your business hours and open earlier. Be flexible enough to show your customers that you are fighting to serve them.

Nirvana has also had especially good business days when our customers celebrate birthdays or, sadly, leave Korea. It is bittersweet for us to be one of the final stops on the journey of a friend who has, usually, been in Korea for years. It is an opportunity for us to say goodbye properly, by providing a personalized experience for people we know. Over these first 14 months in business, Yunoo and I have developed a relationship with dozens of regular customers, both people we knew before and new faces from the neighborhood – and some even farther afield of Gwangju.

Customers have drinks they like. They occasionally request brands of alcohol we do not carry. There is only so much shelf space in our small establishment, but sometimes we are able to surprise a customer with a special bottle acquired for their enjoyment. Customers also have preferred styles of music. So, when Nirvana is asked to host a birthday party or farewell, we are able to give our friends a personal touch they cannot get elsewhere.

Survival technique number 37: Know your customers, be kind, and care.

Perseverance is in my veins. Before coming to Korea in 2008, I was an actor and spent years in New York City fighting to get roles in plays. I had a passion for acting, a love of the theater, and the tenacity to pursue my craft in the face of overwhelming odds. Success is not a word that I define in simple financial terms. Success means personal fulfillment. When Yunoo and I moved back to Korea to start our business, we had no idea a pandemic would derail our plans. Nobody had a clue what 2020 would throw our way. The emotional highs and lows, the financial challenges, and the daily compromises were beyond the scope of our imagination. We fought to stay open and succeeded in surviving.

Nirvana has persevered because we had a solid business plan before starting the business. It has survived because we have maintained consistent business hours, according to our own advertising and government requirements. Our business has flourished because of our customers, some of whom visit us weekly, because they want to support us during these difficult times. Finally, Nirvana is still standing because Yunoo and I are tenacious and love our work.

Survival technique number 1: Fight for your passion, and others will fight with you.

Here is to a better 2021, and an exceedingly better 2022, full of travel, new friends, and alcohol. Or belly up to our bar and order a root beer. You do not have to drink alcohol to “come on by and say hi!” Whatever your idea of nirvana is, we hope it is just around the corner.

The Author
Caleb Sekeres was raised in Providence, Rhode Island, and later lived in Brooklyn, New York, for many years. In the United States, he was an educator and an actor. He moved to Korea in 2008 to continue teaching and traveling. He has recorded two albums of original piano music while in Korea: Late Night Meditations and The Gift. He is also pursuing acting opportunities in television and film when he is not busy running Nirvana with co-owner, Yunoo Kim. He is the proud father of two angelic boys. In five years, Caleb hopes to be frolicking through forests and oceans without a mask.