Help Re-Open The Stop

In October 2023 one of my favorite people on this whole planet was thrown a curveball. Denis Garnoskov of The Stop Restaurant, was notified by his landlords that there was a fire in the basement. The fire was by no means the fault of the restaurant but it has caused him nothing but endless paperwork and emotional distress for the last six months.

Denis has kept a brave face since he realized two weeks after the fire that this wasn't going to be a straight ahead road back into a functioning restaurant and it certainly wasn't be in the same place on Dundas. The landlord was negligent in accepting any responsibility for the fire and this caused endless paper work and delays with the insurance company.

When Denis was finally able to get a concrete answer from the landlord and insurance months after the fire, he was in a between a rock and a hard place. There was no timeline on when repairs on the restaurant would take place. It took months to even get confirmation that the smoke damage was too severe to reopen as is. As of this week, the restaurant still doesn't have power. Denis was forced to begin his search, during what would have been his busiest season, to find a new restaurant home.

The caveat is this: when it comes to commercial leases and restaurants, you buy the business. The Stop wasn't a viable business to sell and beyond that, the compensation Denis finally received from insurance was based on unrealistic numbers based on COVID-19 revenue. It wasn't close to an accurate depiction of the business's revenue in the 6-8 months before the fire occured.

Denis held pop-ups at all of the places that he has supported and in turn, have opened their doors and supported him. Those pop-ups barely sustained the cost of food and labor because Denis felt an immense sense of responsibility to support and take care of his staff that were also out of work through the holidays and beyond. They were also locked in a holding pattern, wanting to support The Stop and Denis, while unsure of when things might go back to "normal". He brought his own team 9/10 times, paying them generously at the cost of taking a profit for himself. It was more important to him that they understand his appreciation for their loyalty. He wanted The Stop stay relevant and on the radar for when he was able to find a new home.

I have urged him to let us start a Go Fund Me for him and he wouldn't let me do it until it was completely transparent for anyone that might be able to donate. He wanted people to know what they were investing in by way of a brick and mortar, not just a person or an idea that might have taken ages. It didn't feel right to him.

That day has come; with all the waiting, Denis has landed at a space at 397 Roncesvalles Ave, just south of Howard Park. The Stop will reopen again, it just needs our help to get some of the final costs taken care of, so it can be a place in the community with amazing food and wine, warm atmosphere and kind humans that we all appreciate and love.

The final costs include cleaning, paying the purveyors that were kind enough to wait for payment, food purchasing and all of the things that come with starting a business all over again. There are minor repairs and unforeseen costs everywhere and I know how many people have wanted to support Denis in getting back on his feet.

If you have the means, every penny counts. He got the keys on Wednesday and has been cleaning tirelessly since then. I wanted to take something off his plate, so I am starting this Go Fund Me so he can worry about getting those doors open as soon as possible.

Thank you for reading this far, All Hail the Cat!