The owners of a popular eatery in downtown Brooksville are looking to rebuild after the restaurant was badly damaged in a fire on May 5.

  • Little Lady Café fire deemed an accident
  • Entire interior of restaurant will be replaced
  • Want to help with rebuild? Visit GoFundMe page

From the outside right now Little Lady Café looks perfectly normal. But inside, it's almost unrecognizable. Luckily,  no one was inside when the fire broke out.

"There was just so much smoke, and I knew it was happening," Owner Rory Steele said.

An electrical fire started by a cooler and spread. Now, the entire interior will have to be replaced.

"I was devastated. This is my world," Steele said. "This is where I go 75-80 hours a week of my life, this is all I know to do. It was worse than I thought."

However, the community has wrapped their arms around Steele and her staff to help get them through this difficult time.

Ever since the fire, the community in Brooksville has been incredibly supportive by checking in on her at the restaurant, in person and also online, according to Steele. She said someone she recently met has already started a GoFundMe account to get her and her employees back on their feet.

"Every restaurant owner, every business owner, I think 100 of them showed up here -- calls, texts, messages, 'what can we do?' 'how can we help?' 'you're not alone,'" Steele explained.

But not everything was lost in the fire. Amidst the rubble, a dollar remains untouched by the flames.

"That was the first dollar I made as the owner of the restaurant, from a customer that was a regular who told me over and over again, 'You can do this. You got this. You're going to be fine. We're going to support you,'" Steele explained. "That's hope for me that's I'm going to make it."

The fire has been deemed accidental. Rory says they'll be closed for a while until they get things rebuilt, but she wants to open again as soon as she can.

This Gofundme.com site is not managed by Spectrum Bay News 9. For more information on how the site works and the rules visit  http://www.gofundme.com/safety.

The first dollar owner Rory Steele said she made from a customer at the Little Lady Cafe in Brooksville survived this weekend's fire. She said that give her hope for her rebuild. (Kim Leoffler, staff)
The first dollar owner Rory Steele said she made from a customer at the Little Lady Cafe in Brooksville survived this weekend's fire. She said that give her hope for her rebuild. (Kim Leoffler, staff)