Less than a year since opening, a restaurant that has quickly become a staple in Brentwood Bay is closed until further notice after a fire tore through the business in the middle of the night.
Around 3:18 a.m. Saturday, Karan Mendiratta owner of Garden Fork received a call at his home in Langford from Central Saanich police that his restaurant at the corner of Keating Cross and West Saanich roads was on fire.
Video below courtesy of Don Hay:
In an online post Saturday morning, Central Saanich Fire Department says “crews attended a structure fire at Garden Fork restaurant early this morning, at the corner of Keating and West Saanich. Crews arrived at 3:01 am to a fire that was heavily involved in the basement, main floor and attic. Unfortunately the building sustained significant damage.”
Mendiratta arrived 25 minutes after the call, meeting a coworker at the scene. Not even a year into the new business, he could not believe what he saw.
“First I thought it’s unbelievable and then it was not really a happy moment,” Mendiratta tells CHEK.
“When I saw the scene first it was completely, it shocked me. We saw big smoke coming in from there, the restaurant was burning.”
Stacey Lee, fire chief for Central of Saanich tells CHEK a call came in just after 3 a.m. about a fire at West Saanich and Keating Cross roads, at Garden Fork.
Multiple units with 16 personnel from Central Saanich attended, and two engines with nine personnel from Saanich also responded.
“The fire was heavily involved upon arrival,” says Lee, adding that after assessing the scene, crews “went to defensive operation and attacked from the outside.”
This continued for the first hour and a half.
By 4:30 a.m., Saanich crews left the scene while Central Saanich stayed on site.
“We still have a ladder there and a crew putting out hot spots and they’ll probably be there for the rest of the day,” Lee said around noon Saturday.
As for the cause, “We haven’t started the investigation yet,” says Lee, adding that it might not start until next week.
“We concerned with the structural stability of the building, so we’ll need to assess that first so we’re working on that part of it,” he says. “We spoke with the insurance company and they’re going to secure the scene.”
The Central Saanich fire chief adds that crews managed to contain the fire to the building of origin, and avoided spreading to nearby residential properties to the east.
According to Lee, no injuries have been reported.
Earlier that morning, the owner of Garden Fork, posted an update online about the significant damage:
“Due to a fire that occurred at Garden Fork last night, we will be closed until further notice. We are thankful that everyone is safe and would like to thank the firefighters and emergency responders for their quick response. Thank you to our guests, staff, and community for your support during this difficult time.”
Mendiratta informed his staff, which totals around 23 people.
“It was obviously not a good feeling. We still had plans, we were planning more,” he says. “We did all the prep last night, how we were going to do it on the weekend.”
Weekends are always busy he says, but especially this weekend.
The Brentwood Bay Festival and Parade festivities are also happening Saturday, just a five-minute drive north of the restaurant on West Saanich Road.
“We were expecting more guests to come in for the parade.”
READ ALSO: Brentwood Bay Festival and Parade will close some streets in Central Saanich Saturday
Festival organizers say up to 5,000 people are expected to turn up Saturday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The restaurant also had a staff lunch planned on June 17 for 65 people which has been put on hold until further notice.
“It’s so unfortunate, as we started to have good food, improved kitchen, started to build good relations,” he says.
Since opening he says he’s worked hard to learn and improve, even seeking feedback from the community.
“We were like improving every single day. We always were planning something new,” he says.
The restaurant is also making an effort to give back to the wider community. Earlier this spring, Garden Fork hosted a burger night fundraiser, donating proceeds to the community of Tumbler Ridge.
“The first three months in the beginning was challenging for me because I was a new business owner and then I started to learn pretty quickly…And then started everyday I’d come with the passion of doing something new, working with the crew, support the community as much as I can, support the locals.”
As of 9 a.m. Saturday, Mendiratta says he has not slept since first receiving the shocking news in the middle of the night, but says this is not the end.
“We will be doing it again. Its not the end of us we are planning to do more. It’s one more barrier but it does not mean we are ending things here…In the coming weeks, we will be letting the community know more information.”
He’s still waiting to hear back from insurance providers, and then fire investigators will work to determine the cause.
CHEK has contacted police for comment.
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