| The Owners Story |
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I live right down the street from the restaurant and had the opportunity to purchase the business and the building in late 2004. Little did I know as to how difficult things would turn out to be. 2 weeks after I purchased the property it was hit by a stolen Tahoe that was involved in a high speed police chase! The truck ran straight into the side of the building and knocked it off of its foundation. The ceiling fell in, 4 rafters were cracked and you could see daylight through the roof. They were caught and I was in shock! This event changed the whole course of my turn key operation plan. The insurance would only cover putting the foundation back into place, replacing the cracked rafters and the sheetrock immediately surrounding the hole in the wall. I suddenly found myself in the first of numerous challenges that would follow. It became apparent that the best thing and only thing to do would be to gut the property and start again, as everyone else had only added layer after layer of plaster, paneling and sheetrock. Of course I did not have the money for this totally unexpected turn of events, and worked with 3 people that helped me strip the 90 plus year old building straight to the studs. We pulled 13 construction dumpsters of debris from the well worn building. It was really a huge job but we did it. It also really needed it. It took 9 months because of the lack of funds. I did not expect myself to find myself in the renovation business but worked every day at it until I accomplished it. Then came another surprise for everyone. We had the entire building stripped down to bare framework, and foundation. Then Katrina hit! 2 months later we started to build it back together. At this point we had been closed for a year, while making the bank note every month with no income. Still I stuck with it. 9 months later we were able to open in a brand new building. Reflecting back on these difficult times I am proud to have gotten through it. More difficult times were still in the future. Anyone that knows the restaurant business is aware that it is a very tough business to start anyway and I was already totally overwhelmed by the time we did open. The next set of problems came immediately. The labor force was almost non existent. Waitstaff was almost impossible to find, let alone keep. Everyone was transient at that time. I have gone through 4 chefs and 5 managers in the 29 months that we have been open. 3 of 5 managers were caught stealing. No less than 75 waitstaff members have come and gone. Training somebody for a position was nearly impossible. Tough times but I still believed in the restaurant. After all that I had been through I knew I would not quit. I thought that things would start to get better but I was dead wrong. On October 19th, 2007 I was nearly killed at 4 oclock in the afternoon. I was walking my dog on Annuciation street when I was hit from behind with a baseball bat or perhaps a pipe. I was not robbed, but left in the middle of the street having seizures. I woke up 5 hours later with 3 staples in my head and a permanently seperated shoulder. I have always been proud of my Irish Channel neighborhood and took it upon myself to board up and paint an abandoned crack house at 3327 Annunciation. I have a rental property in that block and all the neighbors were complaining about the problem. The police did nothing, so I did. 8 days later I was hit from behind and left for dead, I later learned how close to death I was... I recovered after a month to find that one manager and one waitress voided out, and stole every cash ticket. Charges have been filed and one of them is going to jail. This has been the most difficult 3 years of my life and I still don't intend to quit. I am aware of the problems that we have had here at Cafe Atchafalaya, and am writing this to let everyone know that we continue to make improvements on a daily basis. I have obviously been through a lot, and not all of the issues have been listed here. I could not be any more proud off what I have accomplished and can honestly say that we will always continue to improve. We are now serving breakfast Tuesday thru Friday from 7:00am until 2:30pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 8am. For those of you that have had bad service experiences here, I hope this has given you some insight into the troubles that this wonderful neighborhood restaurant has been through. I believe all good things take time and hard work. I love New Orleans and am proud of the improvements that we have made from the begining, and we continue to progress with improvements each and every day. We look forward to seeing you again and appreciate your continued support. Sincerely, Tim Howard |