LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The owners of a popular Louisville fried chicken restaurant said this week they need to raise tens of thousands of dollars "in one of the most challenging moments we've ever faced."
Jason McCollum and Aenith Sananikone McCollum, owners of Chik'n & Mi at Mellwood Avenue and Brownsboro Road, said in Facebook Post on Thursday that they've "hit too many obstacles." They said the kitchen exhaust system failed earlier this month, forcing them to close with the restaurant full of customers and cancel a weekend's worth of reservations.
"This week we have limped along with short fixes allowing us to be open sporadically," they said. "However we've been disappointed at every turn with another hood issue. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions, and now we face something we’ve never encountered before: extended closure."
The Louisville restaurant opened in 2017 and has become one of the city's best stops for fried chicken. The owners have said they specialize in gluten-free friend chicken, rich hearty soups and other vegan options with Asian-inspired comfort dishes.
But things have taken a turn, the McCollums wrote Thursday.
"We fear we cannot recover our losses after replacing the entire system and the additional closures that will entail," they wrote. "All of this comes on the heels of a punishing hot summer that decimated our sales, compounding the financial burden we’ve been carrying since the pandemic."
The Mccollums started a GoFundMe campaign with the goal of raising $40,000 to "stay open, pay our bills, food costs and, more importantly, continue to provide for our incredible staff." As of 1 p.m. Friday, more than $15,000 had already been raised.
If you'd like to donate, click here.
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