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How do you open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the middle of a pandemicâand thrive? One answer:
Break the paradigm and go co-op, Ã la Mirisata, Portlandâs only Sri Lankan restaurant, which is also vegan and entirely BIPOC- and worker-owned. The SE Belmont spotâs prospective owners prove themselves not with a fat wad of start-up cash, but via a few months of a trial working period. During the height of the pandemic, Mirisata went from pop-up to brick-and-mortar restaurant using small loans from customers and friends.
Another innovation: a buy-in membership program for $40 a year, which includes perks like discounts on orders. So far, Mirisata is Portlandâs only restaurant operating under a co-op model, but its worker-owners say itâs a way forward for those whoâve historically faced barriers, including women and people of color, to gain business ownership in a notoriously brutal industry.