‘Trying to figure this out’: Daily Menu owner still fighting to reopen after devastating Shockoe Bottom fire
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- It’s been nearly three months since flames sparked by discarded cigarette butts tore through a building in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom, forcing several businesses to close and leaving owners struggling to recover.
The Daily Menu restaurant was one of those impacted. Owner and chef Lance Nelson said the fire turned his life upside down.
"It was a real strong fire," Nelson said. "Everything was … everything [was] destroyed."
On Wednesday, June 25, a large fire broke out at 1700 E. Main Street. Fire officials later determined it had been caused by cigarette butts that were thrown into a flowerpot on the back deck of the apartments just above the Daily Menu.
Nelson, who spoke with 8News on Thursday, Sept. 18, said the restaurant's forced closure left him and about 16 workers without jobs -- and bills continue to pile up.
"It’s been a disaster," he said. "Just imagine ... unlimited spending. And with no money coming in."
Despite the challenges, Nelson said he has been working to rebuild since June.
"I just put it in my mind to keep going on with regular life … and trying to figure this out," he said. "[I tell myself,] 'You figured it out before, you started from a food truck, you got a restaurant, you did quite well.'"
After five years in his original space, Nelson said firefighters told him the burned building wasn’t safe to return to. That’s when he began renovating a new location just down the street -- but reopening hasn’t been easy.
RELATED: Local cookie shop cancels reopening after Shockoe Bottom fire damaged business
"I was ready to open within a month ... a month and a half, at the most," Nelson said. "But waiting on licenses -- that was the holdup."
The grand reopening was supposed to happen on Thursday, but delays with the restaurant’s alcohol license have now pushed the date back twice.
Still, Nelson said he’s determined.
"Got all my workers back, all my cooks," he said. "I got all my customers and the fanbase with me, so it wasn’t hard to really do. Took a lot of money, took a lot of work and it took a lot of discipline."
PREVIOUS: Extreme heat plays factor as two Richmond firefighters get sent to hospital
As a way to thank firefighters for their work in June, Nelson said he made custom shirts to hand-deliver to the fire department.
He said he hopes to have a new reopening date set within the next few weeks.
