After a boom in business late last year, a Haitian Creole restaurant in Springfield has been seeing less profit and fewer customers.
The previous wave of customers visiting Kèkèt Bongou came as locals worked to combat negative national press and support the Haitian community in the city.
In September, Haitian immigrants in Springfield faced multiple threats after false rumors spread in the lead up to the presidential election.
The threats were targeted at city and other government buildings, schools and colleges.
These threats came after President Trump and his running mate, former U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, spread baseless claims. Springfield leaders, including the mayor and police, repeatedly denounced the accusations as false and asked politicians to stop spreading them.
Vance then defended the debunked rumors during a number of appearances on Sunday morning talk shows.
Wave of support
Ketlie Moise has owned and operated Kèkèt Bongou for just under a year.
"I moved [here] in 2019, but I go work — And I kept thinking of my dream for the restaurant again. I go work, I [did] two jobs to make my business back," she said.
Moise said she was seeing up to $2,000 in daily revenue in September. Now, she said business at the restaurant on Sunset Avenue has dropped to even lower than before.
She said before all of the media attention, Kèkèt Bongou would make closer to $800 dollars or $900 dollars a day.
”For now, sometimes I have $200, $300 – Every day, every day. But it's really slow," she said.
Moise said she is staying positive and hopes that business will pick up again in the coming months.
She wants to grow her customer base to one day open another location and share more traditional Haitian dishes, as well as the fusion cuisine she created after 15 years working in Italian restaurants.
"For my country — all Haitian know these dishes we make. But only one different thing I make in this business is Italian food," she said. " I worked the Italian food restaurant for 15 years. I know how to make it. I make Linguini Alfredo with shrimp. I make spaghetti and meatballs."
Kèkèt Bongou is located at 1137 Sunset Ave. and offers traditional Haitian dishes in addition to Moise's Italian meals such as fried goat with black rice, plantains and griot.
