Support Mitapeap, WA's last Cambodian Restaurant!

UPDATE:
Hi friends,

This campaign is complete!

As we mentioned in the updates, we managed to pull together enough funds to pay off the rent balance. I helped issue a bank check for the full rent amount, which we paid off a couple weeks ago, enabling the restaurant to wind down operations with more time.

As many know, tomorrow, May 28, will be the restaurant's last operating day at this current location. After that, we hope to help them relaunch soon at a new location on the East Side. Your support has made it possible for the restaurant to continue, even if there will be a pause. Rest assured there will be much fanfare and publicity to inform everyone once we have an opening date. For now, follow their Facebook page to learn about their next steps. We hope to connect to some cooking or catering opportunities while we help plan the next steps.

A very heartfelt thank you once again to every single person who supported this campaign or made it down to the restaurant. Sarim and Rina have been truly moved by the support they have seen these last few weeks.


Cheers,
Jefferson


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The state of Washington is in danger of losing its last remaining Cambodian restaurant, which happens to be in Tacoma. 

On May 10, Mitapeap - the last authentic Khmer restaurant in Washington - received a letter from their landlord stating they have five days to vacate the building.

In those five days, they have to pay their current rent and remaining balance. The total is $5325. For a few months now, business has really picked up thanks to more visibility and incredible community support. The restaurant owners, Rina (left) and Sarim have made tremendous progress on their own bringing their bills to a manageable amount and they were beginning to dream of a bigger space with more possibilities like community events, concerts, and dinners. However, the five-day notice is now an urgent race to pay off the current balance (which includes May's rent). If they pay off the balance, they will be given 20 days to continue operating and preparing to move. Those 20 days will be vital to Rina and Sarim to get more business so they can save for moving costs.

But, before all that, the first step is to pay off the $5325. Their notice arrived on May 10, which means this Thursday is the end of the five business days. They absolutely have to zero out their balance by Thursday, or the landlord can change the locks at any time. If this happens, Rina and Sarim will lose the business, Tacoma will lose an important piece of its community, and Washington state will lose its very last Cambodian restaurant. 

Directions to Mitapeap.

Some Background: 
Tacoma has a particularly strong connection to Cambodian culture, as the Salishan neighborhood was one of the main places Cambodian refugees were resettled during and following the period of war in the 60s and 70s. Tacoma's Cambodian population is the third largest in the nation for medium sized cities, and Cambodian culture is an important part of Tacoma's heritage. 

At one point in time, the state had a few different Cambodian restaurants - but one by one, they began to fall away. When Sarim and Rina bought Mitapeap Restaurant on Tacoma's Eastside almost two years ago, they were super excited and their dream was to create a place that featured traditional Cambodian dishes, catering to the nostalgia of fellow Khmer community members living in the Eastside or otherwise coming back to visit where they grew up. Their restaurant feels like home, and their food is fresh down to the spice pastes they hand-grind with a mortar and pestle to assure the flavors are right. 



Photos by Jefferson, who helped organize this campaign. He is just another Tacoma resident who learned about Mitapeap recently and loved the food so much, he decided to help. There is a wonderful convergence of objectives with his role as Chair of the City's Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and the nonprofit Sound Outreach's small business incubation program, where Jefferson works.