Fire-hit eatery aiming to reopen

Calico County near rebuilding decision

— Owners of the popular Fort Smith restaurant Calico County, which closed after a fire one month ago, hope to reopen by June.

The restaurant at 2401 S. 56th St. was heavily damaged a month ago this week when oily rags in a hamper in the laundry room spontaneously ignited, co-owner Scott Blair said.

Fire Department officials have said the blaze caused an estimated $400,000 in damage. The fire was determined to be accidental, Blair said.

Since then, Blair, coowner Gerald Laroche, insurance representatives and architects have been working on a plan to resurrect the restaurant.

Blair said he and Laroche want to reopen the restaurant at the same location where it has been since 1984. They will decide in the next couple of weeks whether to raze the structure and build a new restaurant or renovate the existing building, he said.

More than half of the restaurant sustained damage in the fire, Blair said, which means architectural plans will be required for rebuilding and the restaurant will have to be brought up to current building codes.

Wally Bailey, the city’s director of development services, said building, plumbing, electrical and mechanical codes are constantly updated. When a building sustains more than 50 percent damage, he said, restoring it is no longer considered a repair but new construction, which requires architectural plans and upgrading to the latest codes.

The owners salvaged what they could from the restaurant’s dining room, which was filled with antiques, old signs and other displays that gave the business an old-time country atmosphere.

The wooden tables in the dining room were destroyed, but — surprisingly — the vinyl booths were not damaged and have been saved, Blair said.

In the meantime, the insurance proceeds are permitting Calico County to pay its staff of 60 employees, Blair said. The pay does not include servers’ tips, which account for a large portion of their pay, he said.

“Only one employee has told us he’s not coming back and we’re very pleased with that,” Blair said.

The restaurant’s staff is sticking together, Blair said. The restaurant continued its annual tradition and held a Christmas party earlier this month at a local bowling alley, serving pizza and giving away gifts.

Employees of a competitor, Buffalo Wild Wings at 6550 Rogers Ave., donated gifts to the 27 children of Calico County employees.

A manager at Calico County put together a list of the employees with children and their ages and the Buffalo Wild Wings staff was able to come up with two gifts for each child, Blair said. The children also received stockings filled with candy and other goodies.

“It’s comforting to know your competitor is this compassionate,” Blair said.

Joey Johnson, general manager of Buffalo Wild Wings, said his employees came up with the idea to help out their counterparts at Calico County.

Johnson said he and his staff hope they would receive a similar response from a competitor if they were in the same situation.

“We compete for customers,” he said. “But, in the end, we all come from the same roots.”

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/28/2012

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