Provo restaurant grateful for community support after equipment was stolen
Jun 2, 2024, 5:41 PM
PROVO — Inside Locals, Jessica Boyer serves up gluten-free food. It’s something she learned how to prepare after she was diagnosed with celiac disease.
“It’s an autoimmune disease so it attacks your immune system,” Boyer said. “A lot of people have come up to me and been like, ‘this is the first time I could eat out in years or since my diagnosis or whatever it is.'”
Her business has been open since January, something that took her years to do. In a matter of minutes, years of work was gone after Boyer found the restaurant completely empty.
“Immediately it’s just like panic almost,” Boyer said. “It takes so much to start a restaurant, to run a restaurant. It’s the highest rate of failure of any business in any industry. It’s a difficult thing to do, just as it is. And so walking in it was just this wall of that difficulty, just like hits you all of it once.”
Jessica Boyer’s business has been open since January, something that took her years to do. In a matter of minutes, years of work was gone after Boyer found the restaurant completely empty. (KSL TV)
Everything from tables, chairs, even lighting fixtures and an open sign were all taken.
“The worst part is you get to the kitchen; all of my equipment is gone,” Boyer said.
Forced to close
With no equipment, Boyer was forced to close until she could find the money to repurchase nearly everything inside the restaurant.
“If you don’t have any equipment, you literally cannot do anything,” she said.
The loss of items along with the closure set Boyer back about $15,000, leaving Boyer with the thought of whether or not to shut down her business for good. Boyer believes someone she trusted was responsible adding that the situation will likely play out in a civil case.
“The restaurant industry is hard. I just didn’t anticipate how much love and support I would get,” she said.
Love and support by local customers and other small businesses, after a GoFundMe page was set up shortly after the incident.
“Within 24 hours, we had enough money to buy half of our equipment back,” Boyer said. “We still have a bit of a ways to go but (the community) has done years of work for me in such a short amount of time.”
Something that took Boyer said she still has thousands of dollars she needs to raise, but anticipates with the help she’s received from others she’ll be able to reopen within the week. “It’s been the most incredible experience with somehow on the heels of like just the most horrifying experience.”
*KSL TV does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
