Choo Ng, owner of Lemon Grass Bistro in Oconomowoc, sent an e-mail plea to regular customers asking for help to keep his business running.

OCONOMOWOC - In an unusual e-mail plea to his patrons, Lemon Grass restaurant owner Choo Ng asks for support before it’s too late.

"It sounded desperate, but that’s how I needed it (to) be to get people to come in because I am desperate," Ng said.

Lemon Grass, 1288 Summit Ave., has been hit hard by the economy and Ng is trying to save his business by asking people, in a creative e-mail sent Monday, to blog about his Asian bistro, to write to dining critics to request them to review the restaurant, to eat at the restaurant and to encourage others to do so, too.

Ng said he thinks about his business a lot and how he can help it to survive in the recession.

"What else can I do to get people to come in?" he said.

Ng opened Lemon Grass in September 2005, and he said he saw a profit within the first year. 2006 was good, 2007 was better and for the first five months of 2008, Lemon Grass was 20 percent ahead of the same time period in 2007, Ng said. But, then the economy started to hit the restaurant hard, and now he is having a difficult time meeting expenses.

Now, Ng said he is not making any profit in 2009, although it began well. He said by the end of January, consumers grew scared again and began to cut back and his business was one of them to see those effects.

"Customers need to know I’m not doing well before I close the restaurant," he said. "People are coming out but they’re cutting back."

Ng said the restaurant’s fresh food and cleanliness attract a regular group of customers.

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