LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — As tariffs continue to threaten small businesses across the country, several Thai restaurants in Lexington are preparing for the increase.
Archa Nine, a Thai restaurant, has been in Lexington for almost nine years. First opened in September 2016, there are two locations: Old Todds Road and Old Harrodsburg Road. They offer a mix of authentic and casual dining experiences.
"We need help. We really need people to come out and support our small businesses here in Lexington," explains Freida Oppenborn, a co-owner of Archa Nine. "Our customers became friends, friends became long-time supporters of our business."
On Thursday, the restaurant posted on Facebook, along with four other Thai restaurants in Lexington, about the threat of tariffs and the concerns on how it could drastically affect costs.
The restaurants all met to discuss next steps and concluded that they would prioritize affordable prices and employees' pay.
Thailand is facing a 36% tariff set to take effect in July. "We do not know if the tariffs will cause any disruptions in the shippings or anything like that, but we are anticipating the increase in the costs for sure," admits Oppenborn." We've seen like a 5% to 15% increase in everything. Meats, for example, have already gone up like 60%."
Most of Archa Nine's ingredients come from Thailand to keep dishes authentic, but with tariffs threatening to disrupt that, the restaurant is considering in-house solutions.
"We also talk about making our own ingredients in-house. For example, our curry paste has gone up quite a lot. We would just get some herbs like spices and fresh ingredients and we'll just smash it in the kitchen," Oppenborn explains how making curry from scratch is normal in Thailand.
The restaurant has already begun buying in bulk to ensure they have essentials for the next six months, but even that adds up. They are hoping customers will come out and continue to support them so they can keep menu prices down.
"Having people come out and support our business is not just for the business, it's for the staff as well like you know keeping everyone in the industry employed is the most important thing here at Archa Nine and our friends restaurant as well."
Some of the local Thai restaurants you can support:
