More than 70 Seattle-area restaurants are pledging a portion of their proceeds to help Minneapolis businesses stay afloat amid closures and fear tied to ICE.
SEATTLE — As Minneapolis neighborhoods grapple with the aftermath of recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, small businesses there are finding support from an unexpected place: restaurants more than 1,600 miles away in Seattle.
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An initiative that began with roughly 30 Seattle-area restaurants has quickly grown to more than 70 businesses pledging to donate at least 20% of their proceeds to support small businesses in Minneapolis.
The effort comes as some Minneapolis cafes and restaurants have shifted from normal operations to offering food and drinks for free, while asking customers to donate what they can. One of them, Modern Times Cafe in Minneapolis, sits just blocks from where ICE agents fatally shot Renee Nicole Good and a neighborhood away from where Alex Pretti was killed.
“We’re just trying to do something good and give people comfort in a time where people have lost comfort,” a worker at the Minneapolis cafe said.
In Seattle, the fundraiser was spearheaded by Uttam Mukherjee, owner of Spice Waala. During the lunch rush at the Capitol Hill location, Mukherjee said the response was immediate.
“Even before we got here we got 30 orders that were just fundraising related,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what the impact’s going to be in all of the restaurants that are participating tonight.”
Mukherjee, a first-generation immigrant, said he was moved to act after watching fear and unrest spread through Minneapolis neighborhoods, particularly among immigrant-owned businesses that have either closed temporarily or seen customers stay home.
“There are a lot of immigrant-owned restaurants, a lot of people who are shut right now and have been for the last couple of days, giving care to the community,” Mukherjee said. “We have links to their gift cards, and we plan to buy gift cards and send them the money that way.”
Organizers say the approach allows Minneapolis businesses to receive immediate cash flow without having to physically open their doors, a critical lifeline for small businesses operating on thin margins.
“Most small businesses in the country operate on a week’s worth of cash flow, maybe two,” Mukherjee said. “If you’re lucky and successful, maybe three months — and that’s assuming it’s slow business, not dead business.”
Seattle’s Neko Cat Cafe is one of the dozens of businesses participating. The cafe’s owners say they know firsthand how meaningful community support can be during difficult times.
“We know how much those little inputs from other people meant when we needed it,” Rae Kearns said. “So the second we hear there’s a way to help, we’re super happy to.”
Mukherjee said the fundraiser has drawn some negative online reviews, but that hasn’t changed his resolve.
“We’re doing something worthy,” he said. “Putting our money where our mouth is and helping people who are in need. This is what we do.”
Proceeds from participating Seattle restaurants will be used to purchase gift cards from Minneapolis businesses, allowing those establishments to maintain cash flow while their communities continue to heal.
The full list of businesses is below:
