RINCON, Ga. (WTOC) – December 22nd is the day Lenore Brown will remember for the rest of her life.
It’s the day her business came crashing in along with a white SUV. A little over an hour after closing time for Dawgs and More, phones began to blow up with talks of an “accident.”
“The people beside us called me and I thought they were playing a joke on me,” said Brown.
It wasn’t a joke, but instead a new addition to the list of unforeseen events that have plagued this restaurant from the very beginning.
A fire that pushed back the restaurant’s original opening date, losing all of their inventory during hurricane season, and now – a boarded-up dining room.
“I was actually out of town heading back when all the phone calls started coming in, ” said Brown. “I couldn’t answer the phone fast enough, but once I answered, they told me.”
Lenore and her husband moved from the Tampa area just a little over two years ago. When deciding to open the restaurant became more of a fun thing to do than a long-time dream. However, as that idea came to fruition the pair drove in head first.
“It’s just us, we aren’t a corporation. We don’t have investors or partners, just two people who wanted to bring something different to town.”
The idea behind the gourmet hotdog hut was the two owners, who are childhood sweethearts, frequented a hot dog shop for date night. A simple homage to their love mixed with a fun new adventure.
“We have had to rebuild this place two times.”
And now a third.
Although a major setback, Lenore Brown and her husband are committed to keeping their staff first.
“My priority was my team, and making sure they had for Christmas,” said Brown. “I wanted to make sure the employees we have that depend on us were able to get the money they needed.”
Through donations and selling off the rest of their inventory at a Christmas market, the owners of Dawgs were able to raise some extra funds to help their employees.
The timeline for when they will be able to reopen is still up in the air but they hope it’s sooner rather than later.
The two have seen that even though they have only been in business a little over a year, they have created a community they can depend one.
“Within the hour after the accident, we had people coming to help us clean up,” she said.
“Everybody here that has such faith in Dawgs and that know the Dawgs is something and they all showed up for it and I can’t be more grateful.”
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