The recent 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina brought a spate of publicity to Colorado Springs chef Robert Brunet, who came to the city from New Orleans in the wake of the disaster and eventually opened Momma Pearl’s Cajun Kitchen in Rockrimmon. KKTV, KRDO and Denver’s 9NEWS all ran segments on Brunet, where the chef talked about the Crescent City going “from being a major metropolitan city in the U.S. to basically being a Third World country.”
Now Brunet is trying to raise $50,000 for Momma Pearl’s in a GoFundMe campaign.
“Our challenge now is that our little 32 seat restaurant is too small to serve our growing clientele base,” the campaign says. “Moreover; due to a caveat in our lease (that is currently being re-considered), Momma Pearl’s has, up till now, been unable to serve beer and wine with our meals. As any restauranteur will tell you, liquor sales generally account for 30% to 40% of overall sales and also make up a majority of the business’s profit margin.
“Recently, our landlord approached us with the opportunity to assume a lease on the stall located directly next to Momma Pearl’s Cajun Kitchen. This unit would provide considerably greater operating space and would allow us to add 10 – 12 more guest tables. The landlord also expressed that he’d be willing to allow us to obtain a liquor license to enhance our business with beer and wine sales.”
Things are off to a slow start, thus far, with $50 raised to-date.
