SOUTH BEND, IN (WSBT) — It has been nearly 6 months since a fire tore through Maxi’s Food & Spirits Barn in South Bend.
The small family business, a staple in the community, was targeted by thieves months later, and now, the family says things are even worse.
In a story you will only see on WSBT 22, Anchor Julianna Furfari walked through the property with the manager and owner of Maxi’s and asked the question many customers have: What’s next?
Customers are eager to get back inside the small business that has been around since 1990.
While from the outside the building looks almost ready to welcome customers, the inside tells a very different story.
Drone footage shows the damage in the building following the late November fire.
“The day after the fire, when they let us in, it was damaged, heavily damaged behind us in the maintenance room and the kitchen, where the fire came up. But the rest, you could have walked in that day,” said Barb Court, owner.
While the west side of the building sustained the most damage, video and photos show the rest remaining visibly untouched.
“Up here, we took our finger on the bar and wiped the soot off, but everything else was completely untouched,” said Katie Van Tornhout, manager.
That’s not the case anymore, since then the building been completely gutted.
“This is like it’s going to be torn down is what it looks like, because there’s nothing left inside. There’s not even a light switch left,” said Katie.
Photos were taken after the flames and now all that is left are wood beams.
WSBT 22 asked: Why was your whole building gutted?
“We don’t know, you know, like we still don’t know. We probably never will know because they say one thing insurance says another thing,” said Katie.
“We never expected it to go to this extent. And we put a halt on things, started questioning things, and that’s when things kind of went down from there,” said Katie.
The family that runs Maxi’s says the entire process has been a challenge; they feel they were taken advantage of.
“You put your trust in this company. You give them a key. You give them rights to your entire property. And then when you see things that are missing and they respond with, we don’t know, you know, your trust is out the window,” said Katie. “And it wasn’t a key to our building. It’s a key to our life because this is a huge.”
In addition to missing items, the family says that they were left in the dark and they say they may never know why the entire building was gutted.
“But somebody doesn’t guide you and say, you can do this part yourself. You and your family could have done this and that to get the process going in an honest, you know, manner. And there should just be somebody and tell you every step,” said Barb.
They believe the restoration company was after the money and did not have the business’ best interest in mind.
“And in a restaurant, you have to watch your waste, whether it’s product, wages, whatever. And I expected this whole process to be run in the same manner,” said Barb.
The family did not want the restoration company named.
They do believe there should be an advocate to help those navigating the loss of a home or business. They said they asked too many questions too late.
As for what is next, time will tell.
They did this story because of their customers; they don’t want them left in the dark.
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