After the storm comes the fundraising.
In Montpelier, floodwaters have receded, but the looming cost of repairing, re-equipping and restocking their kitchens and bars now threatens to drown Capital City restaurant owners in debt.
In a press conference last Friday, Vermont Secretary of Commerce Lindsay Kurrle announced that the state is planning to roll out a $20 million business relief fund, though she acknowledged that sum falls far short of the projected need.
The state effort recognizes that businesses don’t qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency grants, only loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. “We have heard the business community loud and clear: In order to reopen, they need more help than a loan can provide,” Kurrle said.
With sources of debt-free aid uncertain and flood insurance policies scarce, many restaurants have already turned to crowdfunding to help offset daunting bills that likely will come due before eateries can reopen.
Brian Lewis, who recently bought the Yellow Mustard Deli & Sandwich Shop at 28 State Street, was also poised to open a new restaurant, Filibuster Café, at the corner of State and Elm streets this week.
Instead, he’s demoing flood-soaked walls and putting in fresh drywall to try to reopen the deli as soon as possible. Lewis expects Filibuster’s opening to be postponed until the year’s end.
The new restaurant’s elegant dining room with cushy banquette seating and ivory woodwork was spared; it sits high in a former bank building and remained four inches above the flood line. But its basement storage and mechanical area was decimated, Lewis said.
“There’s no help from FEMA, that’s been made very clear by the government. Insurance isn’t available unless you had flood insurance, which being new to the area I didn’t realize,” Lewis wrote in a text to Seven Days on July 18. “I’m so tired of people asking if FEMA is going to help. What a fucking joke.” Friday’s announcement of a state business relief fund was welcome news, he said.
Lewis — who also owns South Burlington’s Parkway Diner and the Filling Station in Middlesex and helped open the Great Eddy in Waitsfield — estimated the damages to his Montpelier locations at around $120,000. The restaurateur hopes that, between small community grants and some reimbursement from his landlord’s insurance, he won’t end up too much in the hole. Lewis started a $10,000 GoFundMe campaign for the deli and has been sharing it on social media. So far, he’s raised $1,310.
“I know people want to see Montpelier come back,” he said.
As previously reported by Seven Days, Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation is aware of only 800 commercial properties in Vermont with flood insurance, according to Commissioner Kevin Gaffney.
Gaffney elaborated by email that he believes the 800 represent “a very small percentage of the total commercial property risks that exist in Vermont.” As with homeowners’ insurance, standard business insurance does not typically cover the kind of flooding Vermont just experienced, he said.
Niem Duong, chef-owner of Pho Capital, stood in her outdoor patio area on July 19 and shared how she learned that insurance would not cover her estimated $165,000 in flood losses.
“I call my insurance, and they said, ‘So sorry, we don’t cover ’cause no flood insurance,'” Duong recounted. “But no one ever ask me if I want flood insurance.”
A large pile of rotting food and mud-drenched kitchen equipment still sat behind the 107 State Street restaurant nine days after the flood. “So much smell. We call so many times,” Duong said, wrinkling her nose.
She has lived in Vermont for 29 years and opened Pho Capital in 2015. Her 26-year-old son, Nghia, manages the restaurant.
Duong shared a harrowing tale of trying to move equipment and months’ worth of specialty imported ingredients out of the building’s basement as the floodwaters rushed in. For three days after the flood, she said, “I couldn’t sleep.”
At the urging of dozens of supporters, who pitched in on cleanup last week, the family launched a $100,000 GoFundMe campaign to help with reopening. They’ve currently raised $3,915.
“Everything gone,” Duong said sadly, even the machine that pressed fresh sugarcane juice. The projected financial hit does not include damage to the building, whose wood floors now ripple like sand dunes — and what will likely be months of lost business.
On the sunny restaurant patio, Duong pointed out flood-tainted pots of mint, Thai basil, cilantro, culantro, Vietnamese celery, lemongrass, even lime and lemon trees.
“We had a garden here,” she said. “We have to throw it all away.”
Despite the destruction, Duong was looking ahead. She had just bought some new plants: A small box of red Solo cups spilled over with shiny, round-leafed salad peperomia, rau càng cua in Vietnamese.
When Pho Capital reopens, “We will put it in salads,” she said.
The wood floors at Oakes & Evelyn, located at 52 State Street, were in a similar state to those at Pho Capital.
“I wish I could show you [the high-water mark] on the wall, but they’re all gone,” chef-owner Justin Dain said on July 19, gesturing to the bottom few feet of the restaurant’s walls, which had been removed down to the studs to avoid mold growth.
Through the restaurant’s west wall, there was a clear view into Julio’s Cantina next door. “That’s helpful if I need a margarita quickly,” Dain joked dryly. “You have to laugh at some point.”
“We can’t do it on our own.” Justin Dain
Dain arrived at the restaurant the Wednesday morning after the flood to find everything tumbled on its sides, including a 500-pound fridge full of food. Six basement sump pumps were still working overtime more than a week later.
Dain’s wife, Kristen, does the business bookkeeping and has been compiling records to itemize losses, which the Dains estimate are upwards of $135,000, including needed repairs to the space.
The couple are not sure if they have flood coverage, but Justin said the insurance adjuster was expected on July 29. In the meantime, they are working with their landlord to start the building repairs and launched a GoFundMe for $52,500 — “what we need to open without going hog wild,” Kristen said. They’ve raised $29,870.
The couple have applied for all the small local grants available but know they will need more money to replace all their equipment and pricey ingredients swallowed by the flood.
“You don’t want to be that person begging,” Kristen said. “But there’s not a lot of options.”
“We can’t do it on our own,” her husband said.
Colin Flanders contributed additional reporting.
Montpelier Alive is keeping an up-to-date list of Montpelier businesses, including restaurants, that are open at montpelieralive.com/flood2023bizopenings-.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Everyone’s Table | Montpelier restaurants turn to crowdfunding to rebuild”
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This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2023.
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