Sept 24 - 30

The story of my life:

36 months ago I got a new lease for FlapJacks. I sent it down to a business friend to review it. He apparently was too busy and didn’t and so I reviewed it and signed it anyway. In the new lease the clause that stated that I needed to insure the building at El Camino was absent.  Since I didn’t know that, I insured the El Camino building.

26 months ago I had a fire at Flapjacks. Immediately afterword I was approached by many people to offer to help me out of the goodness of their heart. I chose this man from a company who says he can take care of everything and for me to go home and not worry about anything. I tell this guy that I insured the building, but they told me I wasn’t supposed to, but since I did, I would become the Primary and make all the major decisions concerning the reconstruction.

25 months ago I tell these guys that I have an architect I have worked with to rebuild the restaurant. I am told that I can’t hire an architect that I have to hire an engineer. Ok I say, but I don’t know any engineers. Don’t worry, we can help you with that.

25 months ago I say I have a contractor to rebuild the restaurant. This company asked if he is a “fire recovery contractor”. I say “I don’t know”. Well then you should hire a fire recovery contractor who knows fire recovery. Oh, I say. Good to know. 

24 months ago I decide to hire a fire recovery contractor named Premier Construction. I ask these people if they think he is OK. They say he is a large company and they are a fire recovery contractor so they should be ok. I ask the insurance company if they thought this contractor was ok. They said this is a good company and you should have no problems.

22 months ago we have a meeting at the burnt site and all these people show up. This guy comes in and says he is an engineer and everyone there says he is our engineer and how lucky we would be if I hired them. I said Ok.

18 months ago the contractor goes bankrupt but not before he has demolished far more of the building then he was supposed to. Everyone who vouched for him, says “wow, how unfortunate.”  We decide to hire the contractor that we originally wanted.

4 months ago we finally get permits. Turned out the engineer had never done a restaurant before and had no idea how to do one.

2 months ago I ask how come no body is working and I find out that the insurance companies haven’t sent any money in a long time.  The landlord and I start pouring money out of our own pockets. By this time my employees are getting desperate because they are running out of money. 

1 day ago I write my buddies and tell them how desperate we are and that we need money to finish this building. I explain that between me and the landlord we have personally put in $275,000 to rebuild Flapjacks when we were told that it wouldn’t cost us a dime. 

Today. My good buddies answer my letters with letters from their attorney explaining how it was all my fault for picking the original contractor and original engineer, and how could I pick a contractor who is not a fire recovery contractor. Therefore I should never complain again.

60 minutes ago. I write, "I am so sorry your lordship. I apologize for bothering you.”

This will be the last week of dinner at Country Waffles. Please join us Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

Sept 17 - 23

We have been trying like the dickens to get the insurance company to come up with the final payment to finish the Flapjacks building. So we finally get him on the phone to arrange the payment. Now, mind you, with my luck and or the wrath of the Restaurant Gods, you know something would come up. So this guy who is going to arrange this payment has a problem. He lives in South Carolina and has to evacuate from hurricane Florence. He said, “don’t worry” when he can finally get to a safe place he could finish the request for funds. I am just thinking, that this poor guy has to rely on some luck, and he is doing something for me. I just hope the rest of his family is not with him.

We are progressing with the building and should have everything done by the end of this month. If the final building and health inspections go as planned we should open about 10 days after that. On the other hand if nobody ever hears again from our friend above, well then, who knows?

Saturday nights have been a little slow so we will be open Wed thru Fri nights for the next 2 weeks at the Country Waffles on Sunrise.

Sept 10 - 16

Ok, so I am trying to catch a lizard in the house before my wife sees it (for some reason she doesn’t like reptiles in the home), when all of a sudden, it completely disappears. Unfortunately, there is only one place for it to be and that is up my pant leg. Just then everyone comes in the front door. Here is the problem, where ever I drop my pants the lizard will scurry away. So what do you do? I leave the rest up to your imagination.

Everyone, this whole mess of trying to rebuild FlapJacks is such a mess it is beyond unbelievable. We are getting close but there is so much to do and the insurance money still has not arrived. Stress has been replaced with sheer panic, however, we are making progress. In two weeks we should have everything pretty much done. I will be broke, but we should be close. The inspections of course will probably take forever so I don’t want to set a date yet, but I have included a photo to give you an idea of how things are coming along. We will continue to serve dinner Wednesday through Saturday for a while longer at Country Waffles, hoping we finally have some good luck.