FIRE & RICE needs your help to reopen!
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Fire & Rice needs your help!
Starting a new business venture is always a challenge. You pour your heart into your dream, get everything together to open, and then hope that other people will see and appreciate your vision. In 2019 the owners of Fire & Rice announced their intention to open the Japanese inspired restaurant in the Hamilton-Lauraville neighborhood of Baltimore. The restaurant scene has been blooming in the area and it was hoped that Fire & Rice would add to that local color. No one expected that a pandemic would bring everything to a raging halt. 2 years ago, when I, Alex Champagne agreed to manage the Bar Program and Front-Of-House for Fire & Rice, I never considered I’d have to rebuild the restaurants infrastructure alone.
I’ve been wrestling with how to keep a new restaurant a float in the midst of a Global Health crisis. Like most restaurants & other businesses, that’s meant moving everything to online ordering, utilizing delivery options and doing all I can to keep to keep my staff & customers safe. The punches just seemed to keep coming when one of the original owners left only a month after we opened in October 2020. In the summer of 2021, Fire & Rice had to close again when the last original owner came to me with the tough decision to also remove themselves from the business.
Having spent 2 years building the framework for a concept I believe in and believe my neighborhood has the appetite for, I’m stubbornly compelled to tackle Baltimore City’s red-tape, transfer business ownership to myself, secure Fire & Rice’s liquor license, finish the build out of our bar & dining room and reopen the restaurant at full capacity for the first time ever.
These donations will help with the starting capital needed for obtaining final permits & licenses, food & beverage inventory, payroll and marketing for reopening this Fall. We are excited to reopen and start serving our community again, not just share great food & drinks, but also share our space and talents to nurture and grow with our city. Please donate if you can, and share this fundraiser among your friends and family!
...more about FIRE & RICE and our struggles during the pandemic:
- In the Fall of 2019, the two Owners & Chefs behind Fire & Rice received approval from the Baltimore Liquor Board for a liquor license slated for a 130+ dining room with outdoor seating on the main level of a new development (SOHA Union @ 4801 Harford Rd).
- Initially slated to open in the Spring of 2020, build out for the original space came to a halt and the restaurants concept seemed unattainable with a world pandemic going on.
- That summer a smaller location within SOHA Union opened up, and the Fire & Rice team decided to focus on Carryout & Delivery with some indoor seating available. While waiting for all of the permits to be approved, we enticed the neighborhood's cravings at Hamilton-Lauraville’s Main Street market. Also, during this time, we discovered that we would have to start the liquor license application all over again because of the temporary location had fewer seating (normal application requires 70+ capacity).
- From there the hits just kept on coming. In October of 2020 we were finally able to announce that the restaurant was officially open with limited indoor dining and carry out. In late November of 2020, one of the original owners left and the restaurant closed for a week so that the menu could be reworked and to have time to find help in the kitchen. In December 2020 the restaurant was able to reopen, but a week later indoor dining was shut down again.
- In January 2021 Fire & Rice started offering delivery. In March 2021 the city opened to 50% indoor-dining capacity. We choose to stick to Carryout, Delivery & Outdoor dining, for the health and safety of our staff and guests.
- Once staff had been vaccinated, the dining room was opened again in May 2021 once the city opened indoor dining to 100%. This meant that the dining room would be open fully for the first time since December 2020.
- In June 2021, a Bill amendment we had been working on all year finally passed which would allow us to apply for a liquor license in the smaller location.
- While our new Liquor License application was lost in the mail for almost 2 months, the remaining original owner made the difficult decision to close for the summer and remove themselves from the business.
NOW WHAT?!?!
Calling myself the Manger of Beverages & Smiles at Fire & Rice, I have been working on transferring the business to my sole ownership as a new LLC, and I am confident to have the restaurant back up and running this Fall. Baltimore City residents, may recognize me from the several bars I've worked & managed over the years; Golden West Cafe, True Chesapeake, Hamilton Tavern, Fadensonnen and more. As the Bar Manager at Golden West, I helped establish HAPPIER HOURS, a series of monthly fundraisers where profits from drinks and food specials went to different Non-Profit groups in the city. I got to partner with a wide variety of charities, including Meals on Wheels, Freestate Justice, Baltimore Transgender Alliance, Wide Angle Youth Media, Planned Parenthood, BARCS, Real Food Farm, Music 4 More, and Strong City Baltimore. As a proud Baltimorean, I have always strived to give as much back to the city as possible and hope that with similar programs and events am able to make Fire & Rice, not only a part of Baltimore’s exciting food & beverage scene, but a safe space and hub to continue to connect with the community.
The pandemic has been especially hard on restaurants. We are often places where communities come together, and I would love for Fire & Rice to get its chance to help bring more vitality to Baltimore City, and the Hamilton-Lauraville neighborhood.
Any questions or contact needs, please email me at fireandricebaltimore-at-gmail.com
Organizer
Alex Champagne
Organizer
Baltimore, MD
