A Chamber Member's Story

Amy Wyss and Lee Belfield reopened Zins restaurant one year after the Iowa floods, owing to community support.

Approximately 50% of new businesses don't make it to two years. Business owners Lee Belfield and Amy Wyss didn't even make it eight months before their business was swept out from under them by the Iowa floods in the summer of 2008. 

The two business partners met while teaching hospitality and food services at the local community college. With the help of 22 investors and their own savings, they opened Zins, a fine dining restaurant, in November 2007 in a 130-year-old building located two blocks from the Cedar River in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Disaster struck on June 11, 2008, just days before the river crested more than 31 feet, forcing more than 20,000 residents out of their homes and 600 businesses to close. Belfield and Wyss were evacuated and not allowed to return to their restaurant for another week. What they saw when they got back was total devastation. "The restaurant looked like what I imagine the bottom of an outhouse looks like," Belfield says. "There was silt and muck everywhere." He estimates that $10,000 to $15,000 worth of food, liquor, and wine was lost or ruined. Statewide, officials estimate that damages reached $10 billion, making it the fifth worst natural disaster in the United States.

Belfield says that there was never any thought of not reopening. "We felt a sense of obligation, for the sake of the downtown community and Cedar Rapids. We owed it to a lot of people who had helped us." Belfield continued working at the community college, upping his hours, while Wyss worked out a deal with a local hotel to use its kitchen to launch a catering service, keeping her and the kitchen staff employed.

The two also received a JumpStart disaster recovery loan from the state and funds from the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation. An Adopt-a-Business Program run by the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce matched Zins up with RuffaloCODY, a software company that had not been affected by the floods. CEO Al Ruffalo had been a Zins customer. He donated employees for cleanup duty, replaced computers, and identified new investors.

On June 11, 2009, one year to the minute of closing, Zins reopened with 75% of its original staff in place. Says Belfield, "The day we reopened, I said to one of our investors, 'It's almost as if the flood was worth it because it's in those moments that you see the acts of kindness and courage that we've seen.'"

To share your Success InSight, e-mail Greg Galdabini at ggaldabi@uschamber.com or call 202-463-5563.

Member Facts

Member Name: Lee Belfield and Amy Wyss
Company: Zins Restaurant
E-Mail Address: zinsrestaurant.com/ContactZins.aspx
Address: 227 2nd Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-363-ZINS (9467) 
Website: www.zinsrestaurant.com/
Chamber Member Since: 2009
Founded: 2007 
Number of Employees: 30