Fundraiser aims to save restaurant

Jul 9, 2020 | 3:21 PM

An online fundraiser has been launched to try and prevent a Vernon restaurant from closing down.

Little Tex on 29th Street, which is family-owned, has been shut down since mid-March due to the pandemic and financing issues.

Michelle Stewart has started a GoFundMe page, looking to raise $25,000 for the restaurant’s reopening costs.

“I’ve been a loyal customer of Little Tex Bistro for years. I was disheartened to hear of this family’s story regarding their struggle to keep their family business alive. The Burrells have exhausted every option for financial support, but due to COVID-19 circumstances they have repeatedly fallen through the cracks of this post Covid system,” Stewart wrote.

Stewart describes Little Tex, which first opened in 1995, as a historical landmark of Vernon.

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She says the owners, Tracy and Shamis Burrell, have owned the businesses for several years and despite some ups and downs, made it to the point where the future looked bright.

“Then COVID-19 created a new set of circumstances. Due to their ongoing struggle to recover losses since 2018, the financing they applied for to stay open was denied and previously planned financing options were put on hold. Tracy and Shamis decided to close the doors of Little Tex temporarily on March 15, 2020 with the hope of reopening in July.”

Stewart said the Burrells’s only income was the restaurant.

“After spending the past 3.5 months waiting for financing to reopen Little Tex, they have used up their last resources to keep afloat for themselves and their family,” she wrote.

Stewart says the $25,000 would cover costs like advertising, re-licencing and staffing as well as a new oven, hot plate, and dishwasher.

Click here to find out more at GoFundMe.

by Pete McIntyre

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