Hurricane Huskers: Fundraiser for Nebraska couple’s Florida restaurant

WATERLOO, Neb. (WOWT) – When Hurricane Ian ravaged Florida in September the heartbreak might be felt in Nebraska.

A Waterloo couple moved their shrimp restaurant to Fort Myers Seashore simply months earlier than the storm hit and the enterprise has been worn out.

Hurricane Ian destroyed their RUDE shrimp restaurant however not their dream. So, Tj Holzapfel and Lisa Lahners plan to choose up the items by selecting up and shifting these retrofitted containers from Waterloo, Nebraska.

“So we’re organising these containers the place our restaurant was and the meals truck shouldn’t be going to be cell, it’s going to function my kitchen to serve the container restaurant idea that we had right here in Waterloo, down on the seashore,” Holzapfel stated.

The meals truck is already there however hiring a flatbed trucker to maneuver the containers 1,600 miles gained’t be low-cost so associates are getting on board.

“They didn’t ask us if they might placed on this fundraiser, they sort of instructed us they had been doing it,” Holzapfel stated.

Shrimp tacos are on the menu and RUDE shrimp clothes will likely be on sale. For the reason that hurricane crushed the Florida restaurant Nebraskans have been amongst their greatest on-line prospects.

“From everywhere in the state we despatched stuff out to small cities and also you assume it could simply be folks you realize however it’s been throughout,” Holzapfel stated.

The restaurant’s brand could sound impolite however the shrimp servers say it’s a preferred catchphrase.

And the restaurant homeowners have taken a variation of their signature line to assist increase about $20,000 to allow them to transport these containers right down to Fort Myers and hopefully begin serving seafood once more inside just a few weeks.

Tj carries his feelings on his sleeve.

“Eat me, Ian. We took our tagline and added Ian to it and my spouse and I don’t lose so we’ll be again,” Holzapfel stated.

However defiance within the face of the hurricane aftermath will turn out to be gratitude Monday evening when associates remind the couple that regardless of the place they’re Nebraskans stick collectively in all types of climate.

“It’s going to take us a very long time to handwrite these thanks’s,” Holzapfel stated.

The fundraiser for the homeowners of RUDE Shrimp firm is Monday at Farmer Brown’s in Waterloo, Nebraska from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

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