Owners Of Restaurants Damaged In Downtown Fire Working To Help Employees

The owners of two Downtown Tulsa restaurants are devastated after the businesses were destroyed by a fire over the weekend.

The owners said while it’s sad to lose these businesses, their main focus right now is making sure their employees have a place to work and live.

The owners of coffee and cocktail shop Hodges Bend and a restaurant called Lowood at 3rd and Lansing said the past few days have been tough.

"It all just kind of sunk in on Monday morning when my decade-long routine of getting up and walking the restaurants and making sure everything was good was not there anymore,” said Noah Bush, who is a co-owner of the restaurants.

The owners said the fire started in the kitchen of Lowood and spread quickly to Hodges Bend next door and the four apartments upstairs, where some of the employees lived.

It will take a long time to clean up all the damage, but now, the owners said the focus is helping their employees.

“Right now, we're just really trying to focus on our employees and figuring out how we can move forward,” said John Gaberino, a co-owner of the restaurants. “We do plan on, and are in the works of, setting up a catering kitchen. We didn't do it before, but it's a means for us to have some continuity and continue to employ some of our employees."

They are both thankful for all the people and other businesses who have offered to help.

Hundreds of people have donated to a GoFundMe account, and some businesses even held events where the proceeds went to employees.

"The industry has just been amazing,” said Gaberino. “Seeing Fassler and Valkyrie and Shuffles and Cellar Dweller and Heirloom, we want to thank them all. They've really stepped up and tried to help us and our employees."

They aren’t sure what the next steps are- but they are going to take it one day at a time.

"Help us take care of the employees. Help us come back,” said Bush. “As much as this was our space, it was everybody's space."

Bush and Gaberino do own other businesses in the Tulsa area and hope they can move their employees to them for the time being.