Keep "The Keep" Open!

“Keep the Keep Open”

My name is Johnny Long, and my family and I founded The Keep cafe, based in Jinja Uganda, as not only a restaurant but as a project designed to train and employ Ugandans but also to serve ex-patriates living and working in Uganda, working to make life better for the locals.

But after six years in operation, we're in trouble.

The Keep serves about 1,400 patrons per week in the peak season and about 400 patrons in the off season per week, most of whom are missionary volunteers and expatriates looking to grab a familiar meal and recharge before heading back out to do great work. We also serve a steady flow of Ugandan nationals looking for “something different”.

The Keep employs twenty Ugandans, providing them with a Ugandan “middle class” salary (http://ecdpm.org/wp-content/uploads/DP167-Africas-Middle-Class-Plenty-Extreme-Poverty-October-2014.pdf). However, the salary is only the beginning of the story. Our staff is taught a higher standard of service and responsibility making them highly sought candidates in other higher paying jobs in more lucrative areas, such as Kampala, the capital.

Further, the Keep purchases all its food and supplies locally thereby infusing the local merchants with an average 1,309,606.25/= UGX (approximately $388) per week.

Most months the Keep is able to raise the money for its expenses (including salaries, groceries, rent, utilities, etc), however, from time to time, there is not quite enough money to cover the monthly expenses. In recent times, Uganda has suffered a crippling blow in the form of terrorist threats and acts, worldwide health scares (ebola, etc) and this has had a devastating effect on tourism. This is the primary reason we haven’t been able to make ends meet.

In the United States, a business would solve this with a revolving credit line, using the credit to keep the doors open when things are lean, and then paying off the credit when there is a surplus.

Unfortunately, this is not an option in Uganda and that’s why we are asking for your help. Our landlord has been more than patient through the past six years we have been in operation, but his patience has worn thin, and we find ourselves five months past due in our rent over the course of six years and we have been served with an eviction notice. This means that we will lose all of our property, including furniture, coffee machine, kitchen equipment.. EVERYTHING. Worse than this, twenty employees will be out of work, some of which have been with us the entire six years.

Would you consider helping us provide a safe haven for missionaries, expats and locals? Will you help us provide for our employees and continue to generate revenue for local businesses?

I won’t sugar coat our situation. It’s literally desperate. When we opened the Keep there weren’t many restaurant choices in Jinja. Today, there are several restaurants including multinational chains, and patrons have more options. In the past two months, no less than three new restaurants have opened.

Competition is fierce, but customers keep coming back, and our staff is extremely talented and dedicated. I believe that once caught up we can make it, and our staff can continue to make a difference in the lives of literally thousands of people, both ex-pat and local, each and every week.

I believe that the Keep can maintain on it's own, and make ends meet (but we won't turn down offers from those "Save that Restaurant" shows that would be willing to come in and make a difference!)

We are desperate. In the past six years we have never asked for a bailout for the Keep. But our doors will close and we will lose everything if we don’t come up with $4,000 quickly. And by quickly, I mean within the next few days.

We will use the money to pay the rent and "keep The Keep" open.

Through the years, as a community, you have supported our efforts in Uganda, and your donations helped found and grow the Keep. As a family, we've poured our hearts and our life savings into the Keep with one goal in mind.. to serve those living and working in Uganda.

Would you consider helping us?