CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A longtime family-owned restaurant in Cascade is working toward reopening in the coming weeks after a kitchen fire on January 9th forced it to close.
How the Fire Started
First Wok, which has served the community for 25 years, closed after a grease fire broke out during the lunch rush on Jan. 9. The fire started around noon when an employee was preparing rice noodles for Mongolian beef in one of the wok fryers.
"So what was happening is one of our deep fryers was prepping the rice noodles for like the Mongolian beef," said Tony Yu, operations manager for First Wok and son of the restaurant's owners. "And so when he was preparing the rice noodles, he stuck the large batch of noodles into the fryer, one of the wok fryers, but there was a pocket water, and once the pocket of water hit that oil, kind of splattered, caught fire."
The fire quickly spread to the hood system, with the fire suppression system activating before firefighters arrived within minutes. Four to five tables of customers and takeout orders were in progress when the fire broke out.
"We're just happy that no one was hurt in this incident. That's the most important thing, because everything can just be replaced, but people can't," Yu said.
Family Business Faces First Fire in Decades
For owner Lien Yu, who has been in the restaurant business in Grand Rapids since 1987, this was the first fire incident at any of her locations. She opened the Cascade location in 25 years ago.
"First week, I was very sad, very stressful," Lien Yu said. "I very miss my customer, and my customer very miss us. They call every day."
While the fire was contained to the stove and hood area, smoke permeated the entire building, requiring extensive cleanup beyond the fire damage.
"It was because it was a grease fire. It was quite a bit of smoke," Tony Yu said.
Community Rallies to Help
The family and staff rallied together during cleanup efforts, with employees, family members and even community members volunteering to help.
"A lot of the staff came back after the fire, like one they want to know what's going to happen," Tony Yu said. "One of our waiters, Bob, like his daughter, goes just to Pine Ridge right here, he and, like some of her friends, came out and visited, you know, helped clean up a little bit and just every little bit counts."
Supporting Employees During Closure
To support employees during the closure, the restaurant shifted some staff to their other locations on Alpine and 44th Street, while others were advised to apply for unemployment benefits. Some employees had to make the difficult decision to leave.
"Easiest way for us to feel, to make sure our staff is supported is just talk to them. Like that's just like the hardest thing is just being honest and telling them like hey, if we don't know these answers we'll find the answers, and if not, like, we're here to talk to you and understand your decisions as well," Tony Yu said.
The Reopening
The reopening timeline depends on equipment delivery, with the hood system and wok system requiring four to six weeks for manufacturing.
"We're trying to get it open as quickly as possible. Right now, the limiting factors are getting things manufactured and delivered, because the hood system and our wok system are actually custom, and so those are being ordered already," Tony Yu said.
The renovation will include fresh paint and new fixtures, though no major structural changes are planned.
"We're just excited to reopen and serve the community again, because we miss their faces and we miss them leaving full," Tony Yu said.
The family expressed gratitude for the community's overwhelming support, with customers visiting their other locations and regular patrons staying in touch. While the Cascade location remains closed, customers can visit their Alpine and 44th Street locations.
Tony Yu described the emotional impact on his family: "Emotions are high when we were growing up, she treated this as one of her, like her children, like one of her, her one of her own blood, sweat, and tears went into a place like this."
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