Help Save the Celtic Pig

Hello, my name is Melissa Ingram and as most of you know I have been in the food business for most of my life. For 30 years I have dreamed of owning my own restaurant. I have spent many long hours working in restaurants, hotels, catering companies. I have missed family events, worked all the holidays, missed birthdays and graduations, all for the possibility of one day having my own restaurant.

About 13 years ago, I met Sam Bracken and we started dating. It wasn't long until we moved in together and started talking about our future. I was working as the Executive Chef at the University of Louisville and Sam had his own Lawn Care and Landscaping business. When the idea of starting our own business together came up, we joked about it and said "someday".

Well, about 8 years ago we decided that "someday" was now and we built a smoker and started our business. First we sold bbq on the side of the road out of our smoker and under a tent. We competed in bbq competitions and won 2nd place in the KY State bbq competition 2 years running. This was a KCBC sanctioned competition and the judges took notice of our ribs. Sam and I were thrilled! Slowly our tent and smoker set up turned into the Celtic Pig Food Truck and our dreams were off and running. After working the truck for a few years, we decided it was time to try for a restaurant. We searched for the right spot for years. We started collecting kitchen equipment, dishes, tables, chairs, and anything we could get at auctions or yardsales. Sam's pole barn that housed his lawn equipment became our storage facility.

It took almost 5 years to find the right stuff and the right place. We had the perfect spot located in Lagrange KY. Not far from where we lived. The plans were drawn up and negotiations started with the building owner and his contractor. Everything was going and then at the drop of a hat, the landlord decided he didn't want to do any of the changes we needed and basically said, "no, find someplace else". So we were stuck. We had spend so much money already having the plans drawn up by the architects and now we had to start over again. We were heartbroken. This was the perfect place. Then one afternoon, we had just finished a lunch gig with the food truck and we were downtown Louisville. Sam pulled up at a stop light and looked across the street at a building that had recently had a cafe in it. We parked the truck and went in to check it out. It was perfect!!! The kitchen was small, but I could work with that. There was a basement that would be perfect for the bar area. It had all the ambiance of an old building with all of the original paint and patina. This was it!!! Sam and I both fell in love with the building.

We contacted to landlord and after negotiations we signed a lease. With the help of Sam's Father, we were able to make the dream come true.

We finally opened the doors of the Celtic Pig Restaurant and Pub on April 20, 2019. We had a grand opening with Bagpipers and a live Celtic Band. All of our family and friends came. Sam had made my 30 year dream come true!

We struggled through our first year, as most new restaurants do. We made it happen. We did everything right. Advertising, events, live music, menu specials, tastings. We had people booking private catering events at the restaurant. Weddings, Christmas parties, rehearsal dinners. The 2nd year started out with us breaking even in January, an even better February and within the first 2 weeks of March we had made budget and still had St. Patrick's Day to look forward to. For a Celtic restaurant, St. Pat's was like Christmas and New Year's Eve rolled into one. We estimated sales to be around 30,000.00 for that 1 day alone, if not more.

Then Covid hit. The President shut everything down. We had to close and then the riots started. What we thought was only going to be 2 weeks turned into months. And then we lost everything. We couldnt afford to re-open. There wasn't enough money to buy product and turn the utilities back on. We had to permanently shut down. If we didnt have the food truck, we wouldn't have been able to pay our personal bills or even buy food. The truck was our only saving grace.

We were not able to fulfill our lease obligations for the restaurant and so now, the landlord has put a lein on our house, garnished our business bank account and today he took our food truck.

This is why I decided to start a gofundme page. If we cannot raise enough money to pay the back rent on the facility, he will take our home. We are trying to fight it out in court, but attorneys fees are expensive and without having the food truck to make money, it's even more difficult.

I'm not one to ask for help. I'm usually the one giving it, but this time we need all the help we can get.

Anything will be a blessing.