Doug Beghtel, The Oregonian: Saron "Ron" Khut, a refugee from Cambodia, believes owning a business is part of the American dream.An East Portland restaurant owner gets help from a small-business program as he looks to relaunch in a new location
Published: Friday, January 06, 2012,
Special to The Oregonian
By Cornelius Swart
For Saron "Ron" Khut, a refugee from Cambodia whose father was murdered by the Khmer Rouge, owning a business is part of the American dream.
So two years ago he quit his job at Intel and opened the Good Call, a sports bar and restaurant at 11010 S.E. Division. The business briefly thrived until a customer shot one man dead and wounded three others in the bar in October 2010.
"I thought, 'My business is going to go down the drain,'" said the lanky Khut, 40, who didn't know any of the people involved in the shooting. "It's a small community and everyone talks to each other."
Business dropped off immediately following the shooting, and Khut's staff shrank from almost 20 to just three regular workers: Khut, his sister Syna and their mother, Saroeun.
Worse yet, in September of last year, KeyBank foreclosed on the property and served eviction notices to all the commercial tenants in the building.
"I had a 10-year lease. I had put $300,000 into building improvements," said Khut. "But it didn't matter to them. They just wanted everyone out."
That would have been enough to drive most new entrepreneurs out of business. But not Khut. With help from a new city-funded small-business program, he's looking for financing to relaunch his business at a new location. Read the full article at The Oregonian.
Special to The Oregonian
By Cornelius Swart
For Saron "Ron" Khut, a refugee from Cambodia whose father was murdered by the Khmer Rouge, owning a business is part of the American dream.
So two years ago he quit his job at Intel and opened the Good Call, a sports bar and restaurant at 11010 S.E. Division. The business briefly thrived until a customer shot one man dead and wounded three others in the bar in October 2010.
"I thought, 'My business is going to go down the drain,'" said the lanky Khut, 40, who didn't know any of the people involved in the shooting. "It's a small community and everyone talks to each other."
Business dropped off immediately following the shooting, and Khut's staff shrank from almost 20 to just three regular workers: Khut, his sister Syna and their mother, Saroeun.
Worse yet, in September of last year, KeyBank foreclosed on the property and served eviction notices to all the commercial tenants in the building.
"I had a 10-year lease. I had put $300,000 into building improvements," said Khut. "But it didn't matter to them. They just wanted everyone out."
That would have been enough to drive most new entrepreneurs out of business. But not Khut. With help from a new city-funded small-business program, he's looking for financing to relaunch his business at a new location. Read the full article at The Oregonian.
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