Produced by the I Lab at W-B-U-R, Boston.

Welcome to Kind World. I'm Andrea Aswah.

And I'm Yasmey Namer.

The economy has taken a huge hit during the pandemic.

Rising unemployment, unpaid bills, stores closing, is particularly hurting small businesses, including some of the toughest

to get off the ground, restaurants.

Opening a restaurant is probably the hardest thing that I've ever done and actually right now, you know in the pandemic era

It kind of feels like we're opening a restaurant again. That's Irene Lee

Owner and Chef at Maymay here in Boston.

May may started as a food truck in 2012,

and now it's a brick and mortar restaurant

selling dumplings, scallion pancake sandwiches, and other Chinese American comfort food.

But Irene says that the lifeblood of the restaurant isn't just the food they provide customers.

It's also how they do it. We place a really strong

value on building relationships that are sustainable and that are fair. So as a

restaurant creating equity and justice in the food system is definitely a priority for us.

And so that has to do with our vendors, it has to do with our staff,

it sort of flows through everything that we do as a business.

That means sourcing and buying produce and meat from family-owned local farms, a commitment towards sustainable and green restaurant practices, like reducing food waste and you meant

to sustainable and green restaurant practices like reducing food waste and using compostable materials.

And she's got a program for employees that includes classes on how to operate a restaurant.

Since opening, Maymay's popularity has on how to operate a restaurant.

...