By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Two weeks after announcing plans to open a bigger location in White Center, Meander’s Kitchen owner Miranda Krone tells WSB she’s taking possession of the new space tomorrow.
And with that, she has launched a crowdfunding campaign in hopes of getting some extra capital for the move. It launched at GoFundMe.com early today; we asked her a few followup questions about the campaign’s goal.
Miranda explains that besides having more room, the main impetus for moving is “because the future of our lease is in question. … Our lease ends in December, and I thought it wisest to start looking for a new location now, rather than wait until the last minute and find ourselves scrambling to find a place or be forced to close down. Though we’ve been crazy busy, all of our costs have gone up significantly, too. Everything goes back into the restaurant; equipment repairs (of which there have been many), increased labor, higher overhead for the expansion, so on and so forth. I can’t really afford to move us, but it’s that or close if we lose that lease.”
Does the new space – downtown White Center’s eight-months-closed Papa’s Pub – need much work? we asked. Miranda says, “The Papa’s space is in pretty good shape, and the building owner is making a few minor repairs for us. We will be purchasing all of the equipment from him, however, instead of it being included in the lease. We’ll also need to purchase some additional pieces of equipment, as well as things like plates and silverware and paint and the labor hours to get the paint on the walls and all of the little things that add up very quickly.”
She is planning on two months before they’ll open in WC, but hoping they won’t need that long. She also says, “It’s been pretty amazing how much support we’ve had from the White Center business community … Folks from several of the businesses in the neighborhood have stopped by or sent messages to welcome us … I feel really, really good about joining them.”
P.S. Her crowdfunding pitch, by the way, isn’t a simple case of “give me money.” As many do with these types of campaigns, she’s offering gifts for donors at various levels, such as her homemade ketchup for $30 donors and a private dinner party for $500 donors. The goal: $15,000.
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