After a turbulent election year, Chef Sandra Cordero Berends looked forward to focusing on her Spanish tapas bar Xuntos in Santa Monica, after closing Gasolina Caf\u00e9 in Woodland Hills. Then, the same day she announced her plans, wildfires swept across her neighborhood and shut down her business.<\/p>\n
Berends was walking back from the Annenberg Community Beach House when she saw the smoke rising from Pacific Palisades last January.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were right there at the beach, and we just saw that smoke getting bigger and bigger so fast,\u201d Berends said. \u201cIt was a scary time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fire soon spread to a few blocks away from Xuntos, and Berends had to close shop early that day. Despite experiencing two previous fires \u2013 including the Woolsey Fire in 2018, which devastated 96,949 acres of land and misplaced 295,000 people \u2013 and evacuating twice from her home, the restaurateur was still feeling the profound impact of the Palisades Fire, emotionally and business-wise. <\/p>\n
The sentiment is shared by many local vendors hit by the January wildfires, which ripped through Pacific Palisades and Altadena, killing at least 31 people and destroying more than 16,000 structures on its way. <\/p>\n
The fires displaced about 150,000 residents, and with their homes gone, so did their purchases at local businesses. This caused a ripple effect throughout Los Angeles \u2013 as many businesses had to halt their operations, suspend payrolls and in some extreme cases close for good.<\/p>\n
The fires also demolished or damaged 1,907 brick-and-mortar stores and disrupted 39,000 businesses with 230,000 employees. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost businesses were inside the fire perimeters, and up to half of the exposed businesses were destroyed,\u201d a research report from UCLA\u2019s Latino Policy and Politics Institute and Center for Neighborhood Knowledge found. <\/p>\n
\u201cMicrobusinesses account for most losses because they dominate the local base,\u201d the report continued. <\/p>\n
\u201cSmall businesses are the backbone of our local economies, yet they are often invisible in disaster recovery,\u201d said Silvia Gonz\u00e1lez, director of research at Latino Policy and Politics Institute. <\/p>\n
They are not invisible to their community, however. At least not to DoorDash Inc., whose business relies on local retailers and restaurants to thrive together. <\/p>\n
To help businesses recover, the food delivery company awarded $200,000 in grants to 20 L.A. businesses in May through their Local Business Disaster Relief Fund, with additional recipients announced in December. The grant has provided more than $2.7 million to over 250 local businesses across the nation since 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor DoorDash to be successful, all of our stakeholders need to be successful. If merchants can\u2019t succeed, if they can\u2019t recover from a disaster, then DoorDash will not succeed, right?\u201d said Sueli Shaw, head of social impact at DoorDash. \u201cWhen disaster strikes, we\u2019re committed to standing by them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hello, You\u2019re Welcome, a family-owned coffee-and-doughnut shop from Pasadena, was one of the initial recipients in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really great that they\u2019re putting the money that they make from restaurants back into these communities,\u201d said Chef Leah Delyte Di Bernardo, who owns the shop with sister Joanne Di Bernardo and runs it with daughter Gigi Di Bernardo, \u201cIt\u2019s actually an essential, really great way for them to give back.\u201d <\/p>\n
The coffee-and-doughnut shop had to close for a few weeks after the Eaton Fire, then reopened for only a few hours a day for two more months. The Di Bernardos still decided to pay their employees full-time wages, though the work hours were greatly shortened.<\/p>\n
This was where the $10,000 DoorDash grant swooped in to help. <\/p>\n
During the height of the fire, the doughnut shop still found itself a valuable member of the community. The Di Bernardos, who opened the shop in 2022 right as the Covid-19 pandemic came to an end, were helping residents handle their mail and distribute donations as much as they could. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just put all that love and care right out into our community, and we\u2019re getting it back, and that\u2019s really cool,\u201d Leah Delyte Di Bernardo said almost a year later. \u201cWe don\u2019t blink twice when others are in need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Xuntos also got the grant, which it used to support its team and stay afloat as the fires consumed nearby neighborhoods. Berends, who used to collaborate with charities like World Central Kitchen Inc. to make meals for medical workers during the pandemic, sprang right into action again the night after she saw the fire to support her community, one firefighter at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight away, I called World Central Kitchen, and I was like, who needs help? Who needs to be fed?\u201d said Berends. \u201cI don\u2019t like to sit around and wait to see what\u2019s (going to) happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tapas bar ended up feeding both firefighters and evacuees who lost their homes, offering free meals for anyone between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. each day. Berends was thankful. The program kept her staff employed and helped grow the community back. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very touching,\u201d Berends said on the experience. \u201cAnd it was great to be of service.\u201d <\/p>\n
Xuntos is now thriving a year later. Berends shared plans for \u201cgetting out of this survival mode,\u201d which include new items on the menu and collaborations with other local chefs on holidays. <\/p>\n
The city has also offered similar grants to small businesses, such as the L.A. Region Small Business and Worker Relief Funds from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity. Since January, the funds have awarded $17.7 million to 2,181 small businesses and nonprofits, plus $5.7 million to 2,892 workers. <\/p>\n
\u201cFire survivors deserve nothing less than a full and fair recovery, and these funds reflect Los Angeles County\u2019s commitment to just that,\u201d Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, author for the motion to create the funds, said. \u201cWith $23.4 million in grants, we ensured that every eligible small business, nonprofit and worker had access to meaningful relief to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new year seems to bring new hopes, too. Although foot traffic has not returned to pre-fire levels, Berends is hopeful yet again going into the new year. She was happy to see a lighter spirit in people as business slowly bounced back. While full recovery will take more time, she has already noticed \u201ca little bit of energy shift.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Di Bernardos were in a similarly festive spirit. Although revenue is yet to return to normal, the duo shared their gratitude for the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think for me going into [2026], I really would love to see all of us be a bit more grounded with one another, and be more responsible with the care for each other,\u201d Leah Delyte Di Bernardo said. \u201cBy working together is how you get through tougher times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a turbulent election year, Chef Sandra Cordero Berends looked forward to focusing on her Spanish tapas bar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[30747,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-120579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-doordash","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-headlines","11":"tag-la-news","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","14":"tag-los-angeles-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}