Danny Che is one of the owners of Deluxe Meat Market, in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Photo: Janice Chung Danny Che is a co-owner of Deluxe Meat Market on Mott Street, a butcher shop and grocery store that also sells homemade Chinese barbecue and prepared foods. Here, he discusses what it’s like to run his business amid the increased threat of violence against Asian Americans, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The store is known for its freshly prepared foods. Janice Chung. The store is known for its freshly prepared foods. Janice Chung. On top of that, we were working late, and the people who don’t live in Chinatown had to take the subway back to Queens, Brooklyn, or the Bronx. During that time, with the news saying the virus came from China, and Trump calling it “the Chinese virus,” it really affected the safety of our employees when they went home.
The store’s butcher offerings are extensive. Photo: Janice Chung At night, when we’d leave, our staff was like, “Okay, we’re gonna go to the subway together so there are a few of us. No one’s going home alone.” When there’s a group, it’s less likely that anyone will bother you or do something bad. We did have two or three cases where staff members contracted coronavirus. We thought the right thing to do was to shut down the store, have everyone get tested, and then have people come back once their test results came back negative. It was the safe thing to do, even though closing down a store is a lot of work. Again, since everything we do is fresh, managing to close down is a huge, huge thing.