WACO, TX — The Olive Branch Cafe closed its doors completely after the winter storm in February completely ruined the inside of their restaurant. Since then it's been all hands on deck to clean up and make those renovations necessary to reopen.
The damage was so extensive they haven't been able to use their kitchen for any sort of orders but have used a commercial kitchen to fulfill a few catering orders. Other than that they have had no business and are ready to reopen.
Owner, Michael Carney says they're a family at The Olive Branch and it was important to stay that way through this difficult time.
"A year and a half ready right now and my chef our employees we've been able to keep everybody on our team throughout this process," Carney said.
They haven't even been able to operate at 100% since restrictions were lifted in March and the storm damage happened a month before. They were hoping to reopen June 1 but that date has been pushed and they're hoping to open in a few weeks.
"We got everything put into storage, salvaged what we could, we lost 75% of everything in the building so we're starting over pretty much from scratch with this," Carney said.
Spice Village is a boutique, also ruined and flooded because of the storm and they have managed to still serve at a pop-up location on Austin Avenue. however, they are ready to come back home.
"There’s been some transitions but it has worked out for the best part," Manager, Robin Martin said.
Spice Village has been in the same location for 20 years, with new flooring finally put in they're hoping to go back by the end of the summer. Being a 30,000 square ft building renovations are taking a bit longer.
"We are excited not just for a new polished space but we are just ready to get back to normal, we’re excited to be back home is the most important thing to us," Martin said.
It's the customers that have kept both these businesses looking toward the light at the end of the tunnel as they battled the Pandemic and now the storm, they'll be returning stronger than ever before.
