ATLANTA — After a fire broke out at the OK Café, other restaurants are reaching out to help workers there.
The fire happened at the restaurant on West Paces Ferry earlier this month.
With Christmas just a week away, nearly 100 percent of OK Café employees are out of work until the restaurant reopens.
There’s been a fundraising effort by the public, and some Buckhead restaurants are also finding ways to help those workers out.
“Especially this time of year, to have that many people lose their income is just a terrible thing,” Michael Anderson said.
When Anderson, the owner of Portofino, an Italian restaurant in Buckhead, heard about an online fundraising effort to help OK Café workers, he decided to donate 15 percent of proceeds from this past Tuesday night, which came out to $1,250.
“We put out messages on social media. We had a hard time getting everybody in the restaurant. They wanted to support OK Café,” Anderson said.
The owner of Buckhead Tavern, which just opened Thursday, also wanted to help the OK Café workers. Johnny Esposito reached out to OK Cafe owners and encouraged the displaced workers to come work at his place while the other is being repaired.
“I’ve been in the hospitality industry for 25 years. I definitely felt it was something to give back. That was something I was excited to be a part of,” Esposito said.
Restaurants are known for helping causes and charities, but this time they are glad to be helping people in their own business.
The OK Café fire started in a water heater. Everyone got out safely.