JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Grove Park chef is recovering after his restaurant, Streeter Acclaimed Kitchen, caught on fire Saturday night.
Johnathan Streeter posted to Facebook around 8 p.m. Saturday showing off his Soulfood Sunday menu. Less than two hours later, he would post a follow-up announcing that his restaurant had caught fire.
“My restaurant caught on fire; we will be closed until further notice,” Streeter said in the Facebook post. “I have no words, and I don’t know how it happened.”
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The manager of the restaurant, Riva Kimbrough, says the landlord alerted him to the fire just a couple of hours after staff had closed up for the night.
Jacksonville Fire & Rescue says they were dispatched at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
“The first unit arrived just two minutes later, confirmed activity, and began aggressively working to suppress the fire,” JFRD said in a statement to Action News Jax. “JFRD personnel were able to limit the damage to the unit where the fire originated.”
Kimbrough says when she returned to Streeter’s Acclaimed Kitchen after clocking out Saturday night, everything had been destroyed.
“Everything was like gone, you know, from the air conditioner to the shelves to everything that we have for to-go [and] cleaning supplies,” Kimbrough said. “The fire was so big it busted out the windows from the pressure of the smoke and everything.”
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Kimbrough says no one was in the restaurant when the fire started, but the fire department had to bust through the roof of other businesses in the same building to alleviate some of the smoke.
She estimates a minimum six-month recovery time and approximately $30,000 in damage.
JFRD says the Fire Marshal is still investigating the cause of the fire, but Kimbrough suspects it may have been electrical.
“I knew there was a smell that was going on during that day that was reported to me,” Kimbrough said. “But we [couldn’t] really figure out what it smelled like.”
She says about seven employees are affected.
“Me personally, I have a son getting ready to go to college next month,” Kimbrough said. “So, in the middle of me getting everything together for him, this happens.”
Luckily, Streeter has created a GoFundMe to make sure his employees don’t go unpaid while the business recovers.
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Kimbrough says they’re all thankful for the community support.
“We cannot let this little fire stop us, cause I feel like God had a plan for us, you know what I’m saying? God knew we was too big for this spot,” Kimbrough said. “Whatever spot we find again, it’s going to be bigger and better.”
Action News Jax reached out to the landlord about the cause of the fire, and he said he cannot disclose any information until after the investigation.
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