A downtown restaurant has re-opened after being shut down for three months following water damage.
A water pipe burst on the second floor in Hill Centre Tower Three, which impacted businesses including 20Ten Eatery.
The restaurant saw extensive damage to its kitchen and dining area.
“When I first got the phone call back on February 4, when I came in, I knew there was going to be extensive damage. I literally thought that I’d be closed for a month, month-and-a-half,” said Steve Kosabek, owner of 20Ten Eatery.
“I never expected a three-month closure, which really affected the business quite harshly.”
The restaurant also hosts functions and caters meals for events and Kosabek says there were a number of events that had to be cancelled.
“I lost of a lot of functions that were booked in here, a lot of ongoing catering gigs. When you close for that long, obviously you lose a lot of customers, so now we’re just in the process of rebuilding them.”
He says dealing with insurance has been the toughest battle.
“It was probably the hardest and worst thing I’ve had to deal with in my life. It was not very pleasant,” he said.
Through the closure, the restaurant lost two staff members, but one has since been hired.
Kosabek says customers have been slowly returning, and the response has been positive.
“A lot of people have said ‘oh, thank God you’re back’. People are happy that we’re back open again. We have good lunches. People are coming back fast. I did notice the evenings are a little soft.”
The restaurant had a fridge full of food at the time of the closure and donated all of it to Souls Harbour.
20Ten Eatery re-opened on May 2.
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