Beloved College Park Cafe is temporarily closed due to a Kitchen Fire on Christmas Eve

A College Park Cafe team member has set up a GoFundMe to help keep employees paid while the cafe works through a kitchen remodel.

College Park Cafe is one of Orlando's oldest diner, serving classic American comfort food to diners for over 50 years.

Located on Edgewater Drive, the cafe was open on Christmas Eve morning, December 24 when a fire began in the kitchen. Unfortunately the fire quickly grew out of control, with employees and diners quickly evacuating.

Orlando Fire Department responded quickly, and thankfully ,contained the fire to the kitchen, however the fire caused significant damage to the kitchen, resulting in the business having to close temporarily.

Current cafe owners Joey and Alan who purchased the business in 2019, are asking for patience and understanding while they work to pick up the pieces, and are doing everything they can to repair, rebuild and reopen as soon as possible.

Joey and Alan commented, "We can’t thank you enough for your support over the years. Your kindness and encouragement mean the world to us and we look forward to serving you again soon.Until then, please keep us in your thoughts and we’ll keep you posted on our progress. The Grinch may have stolen Christmas, but we’ll be back stronger than ever.“

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A GoFundMe campaign has been launched by Tiffany, a College Park Cafe employee to help employees pay the bills while the cafe is closed.

Tiffany commented, "Joey and Alan are doing everything they can to try and put the pieces back together so that we can reopen our doors to serve our wonderful community. As of right now, we just don’t know how long this could take. It could be weeks or even months before we are able to fully operate again."

To contribute to the GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-back-college-park-cafe-donate-now.

For more details: https://www.collegeparkcafe.com/

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