Richmond business ‘Daily Menu’ and several others impacted by Shockoe fire

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- On Wednesday, June 25, a fire blazed through Downtown Richmond's Shockoe area, impacting several businesses. However, one business in particular has been especially impacted.

The Daily Menu is now one of several business trying to recover from last week's fire, as it is still under investigation.

‘I’m just gonna take it moment by moment’: Residents, businesses devastated by Shockoe Bottom fire

Since the incident, the restaurant has shared new details on how they have been impacted and steps moving forward.

"The fire has completely destroyed the second floor of the building. We lease the first floor only. While we were not directly impacted by flames, the restaurant is completely flooded. Water, smoke, and the loss of power to the building has damaged all of our equipment and inventory," said owner and chef Lance Nelson.

The restaurant also said that due to the severity of damages to the second floor they have been asked not to return back to the building until an engineer can determine whether the building is stable or will need to be demolished.

Due to the building being uninhabitable at this time, Nelson's team of 18 cooks, bartenders and servers are out of work and will lose income.

Neighboring businesses such as "Tasty Crab" and "OMG OCP's" have also released statements on social media communicating to customers the state of their business and where they plan to go from here

As for the origins of the fire, that is still under investigation.

"There was a lot of misinformation being spread about where the fire started so I think the community is looking for answers just as we are about the cause of the fire," Nelson said.

The restaurant just recently celebrated their five year anniversary on Saturday, June 21, and while they are receiving congratulatory messages and well wishes, Nelson also added, "That has since turned into sympathy and prayers on our social media pages."

As for where the restaurant is looking to go from here, Nelson said, "For now, we are locked out of the building pending the investigation and engineer’s report to determine if the landlord will have to demolish the building and rebuild.

The business owner continued by saying, "So it’s a waiting game due to the extent of the damage upstairs. The building may not be structurally sound so we are completely out of business until further notice."

The business is currently accepting online donations here.