What is going on with The Kitchen? Updated with donation link

||| FROM JASMINE TOWNSEND for THE KITCHEN |||

Dear Orcas Community, we have found ourselves in an unfortunate situation that is bigger than our small island business can bear. We humbly ask for your financial help and support. It is with a heavy heart that we make this request.

The Kitchen has been our devotion for 24 years, and to our disbelief, we have just been locked out of our restaurant with all of our equipment being held hostage by the new building owners. Needless to say, we are in shock.

We have been on time with our rent payments, including the month of June, and we always pay our bills even when the times are tough. Over the past three months, we have been trying to sell The Kitchen, and we have had several excellent offers to sell to local residents. To our dismay we have been blocked at every opportunity for us to sell, refusing to consider new lease agreements. What we believed could have been a friendly, turn-key business opportunity for a local resident was thwarted on multiple occasions.

To add fuel to the fire, without any contractual paperwork to support their case, the new building owners are now demanding elevated back rent for 3 months plus a threat of $15,000 to file a lien on The Kitchen’s property (our restaurant equipment). Again, we have never missed a rent payment, nor have we ever received a lease from them with the terms for an elevated monthly rent or a proper eviction notice.

What we now understand is that they will try to beat us down financially, while at the same time denying us the opportunity to have access to The Kitchen, from which we have been preparing and serving food for more than two decades. Their hope is for us to fall away, thereby giving them a fully functioning, commercial, permitted kitchen, which they will then lease to a tenant of their choosing at an exorbitant rent increase. It sounds nuts, and it feels nuts. We are at a loss as to what to do other than lawyer up ourselves and tackle this head-on.

The Kitchen has been a long-standing business in the community, we have served Orcas with healthy, affordable, and locally supportive food for 24 years, and we have taught and trained the youth and adults on how to cut vegetables, follow recipes, clean up after themselves, cook and be team players, we have supported the zero waste program with paper and pig compost, buying locally and in bulk to cut down on environmental impact, all because we selflessly care about our community, future generations and our planet. This is a heartbreaking ending to a true labor of love.

The unfortunate truth in the world is there is greed… The have’s and the have’s not and in situations like these that gap becomes very apparent. Orcas really is turning into the next Martha’s Vineyard…. All this being said we would at least like to end this chapter without debt caused by situations out of our control. Please consider donating to help in our success with reclaiming our belongings and to show support for the community service The Kitchen has given over the years. We appreciate any and all warm comments, and vocal support as we move through these uncertain times.

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