AKRON, Ohio — A bustling restaurant and bar was the victim of Mother Nature last Thursday, and now the business is pushing through to hopefully reopen next week.
The Noisy Oyster Pub Owner, Jonathan Curtis, told News 5 that the restaurant was full when recent storms rolled through.
“It was during dinner. It was still pouring down rain. We really had nowhere else to go. We were kind of lined up along the sidewalk there and I was watching the water coming through [the restaurant] and the sludge through the doors,” said Curtis.
Curtis estimates a foot and a half of grime flooded the business.
News 5 stopped by the Noisy Oyster Pub Thursday afternoon.
The dining room floor was leveled and separated from the bar floor.
Several large fans were blowing to dry out the floodwater behind the bar.
Kitchen shelves were gutted as the water submerged the bottom half.
“We are finding what equipment is salvageable and usable. There's our bottle cooler we discovered is not working, so that's out by the dumpster now,” Curtis added.
Due to the flooding, Curtis said he had to throw out all the food and a portion of the alcohol.
Curtis said he hasn’t begun to think about how much repairs will cost him, but he estimates he’s lost $20,000 from having to close the business for a week.
Luckily, the Tiki Underground in Cuyahoga Falls offered to fundraise on behalf of the Noisy Oyster Pub Thursday night.
“They are going to be doing a lot of renovations for the next few weeks to try to really work on getting that business back together. We wanted to help all of the employees and the staff that are out of work for a while,” the Tiki Underground General Manager, Jessica Murdock said.
Murdock explained they’d email blasted a list of local vendors about raffling off prizes as part of the fundraiser.
Little did the Tiki Underground know about 50 vendors would agree.
“Any time we've had an issue, or we were closed for a year for renovations and businesses reached out to help us, gave us a chance and our employees a chance to kind of keep afloat while we were renovating and stuff. To be able to pass that along and help out others that are trying to do the same, it's a really great feeling for us,” Murdock added.
Murdock said this is the first Tiki Underground fundraiser of this magnitude and of such short notice.
“It’s surprising but not surprising because I've seen it happen other times, other places, people coming out and doing what they can. It's great,” Murdock stated.
Curtis explained he feels overwhelmed by the amount of support.
“I wasn't totally aware of how bad it was in other spots around here. We’re getting so much attention that it’s almost kind of embarrassing because there's a lot of people that were affected by all this. It wasn't just us. It's a good feeling but a bad feeling somewhat,” Curtis said. “We have a lot to pay it forward for, that's for sure.”
The Merriman Valley Pizza is also hosting a fundraiser for the Noisy Oyster Pub on Saturday, August 17.
A portion of those proceeds will be “given to help fund damage repairs.”
Merriman Valley Pizza is also accepting cash donations.
Curtis said he’s also thankful for the employees and regular customers helping him clean the business.
Curtis estimates the bar cleaning will likely take another four or five days. He’s hopeful of serving drinks again by next week.
To donate to the Noisy Oyster Pub online, CLICK HERE.
