We built this because we needed it.

I own a restaurant on Main Street in Evanston. For years the same thing kept happening: something small would break, I would call three people, two would not call back, and the third would come in nine days and charge me for the trip.

Meanwhile the list on my office wall got longer. Door closer. Ceiling tile. The grout by the ice machine. The light over the patio that has been out since March.

None of it was urgent. All of it added up to a building that looked tired and a staff that stopped reporting things because nothing happened when they did.

HANDS is the company I wanted to hire. A visit every month before we open. A written list every time. Somebody who knows the building, calls back, and handles the small stuff before it becomes the big stuff.

The name comes from the kitchen. When you need help carrying something, you call out “hands.” Somebody answers “heard.” That is the whole business, really.