B-Macs Reopens After Fire

July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.

By Jordan Fouts-

B-Mac’s on Buffalo Street has reopened four months after a basement fire, causing an estimated $45,000 in damages, closed it down.
Owner Brian McClelland, who opened the diner in December 2008, quietly reopened it Wednesday with plans for a grand reopening Jan. 14.
B-Mac’s reopened with few changes since the Sept. 2 fire: The five-member staff has returned, despite taking other jobs in the meantime, and the menu offers the same breakfast and lunch staples.
“Everybody came back. Every single person I hired since day one,” McClelland said this morning as the breakfast crowd enjoyed eggs, hash browns, coffee and biscuits and gravy. He pointed out the regulars, which happened to be most of them.
The wiring has been updated, since it was an electrical fire that caused the $25,000 in damage to the building and $20,000 to its contents. And McClelland now owns the building, which has been a restaurant for at least 40 years.
The insurance company sent a crew to clear out the basement and clean the dining area from top to bottom, he said. More than half of the furnishings, from the red stools and booths to the diamond-patterned counter that runs most of the length of the dining room, are original to the building.
McClelland dons a red apron himself and helps out in the kitchen, though he noted his restaurant experience beforehand was limited mostly to watching his parents and grandparents in the kitchen. He had been working in retail when he saw the building for sale and “put some numbers together,” he said.
“I enjoy it. It’s a blast,” he added.
The economy was just beginning to take a dive when he opened in 2008, he also said. “But the newness of the business, the curiosity of people, I think helped me get through the first few years.”
McClelland has a few things planned for the grand reopening, including breakfast and lunch specials and gift certificates. It’s an open house for customers to stop back in, he said.
B-Mac’s is open Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. It’s also open late on First Fridays.[[In-content Ad]]

B-Mac’s on Buffalo Street has reopened four months after a basement fire, causing an estimated $45,000 in damages, closed it down.
Owner Brian McClelland, who opened the diner in December 2008, quietly reopened it Wednesday with plans for a grand reopening Jan. 14.
B-Mac’s reopened with few changes since the Sept. 2 fire: The five-member staff has returned, despite taking other jobs in the meantime, and the menu offers the same breakfast and lunch staples.
“Everybody came back. Every single person I hired since day one,” McClelland said this morning as the breakfast crowd enjoyed eggs, hash browns, coffee and biscuits and gravy. He pointed out the regulars, which happened to be most of them.
The wiring has been updated, since it was an electrical fire that caused the $25,000 in damage to the building and $20,000 to its contents. And McClelland now owns the building, which has been a restaurant for at least 40 years.
The insurance company sent a crew to clear out the basement and clean the dining area from top to bottom, he said. More than half of the furnishings, from the red stools and booths to the diamond-patterned counter that runs most of the length of the dining room, are original to the building.
McClelland dons a red apron himself and helps out in the kitchen, though he noted his restaurant experience beforehand was limited mostly to watching his parents and grandparents in the kitchen. He had been working in retail when he saw the building for sale and “put some numbers together,” he said.
“I enjoy it. It’s a blast,” he added.
The economy was just beginning to take a dive when he opened in 2008, he also said. “But the newness of the business, the curiosity of people, I think helped me get through the first few years.”
McClelland has a few things planned for the grand reopening, including breakfast and lunch specials and gift certificates. It’s an open house for customers to stop back in, he said.
B-Mac’s is open Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. It’s also open late on First Fridays.[[In-content Ad]]
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