Welcome!

829 Fleming Street, Key West, Florida
Corner of Fleming and Margret

The future home of the first Help Yourself !

829 Fleming is an interesting spot. Once an old gas station, it now houses a Laundromat and a kitchen/restaurant. Whilst the laundromat has remained in place for many years the restaurant has changed hands a multitude of times. For some reason no one seems to have made it there. Every few years some else gives it a go; the name gets changed, the menu gets changed, some décor gets changed, they open their doors, and the neighborhood watches and waits. Now it’s my turn.

Some would say it’s not a good sign to see so many failed before me, but I have a feeling this time will be different. Too confident? Not at all, I am a firm believer of positive thinking! Besides, with the help of Paul Menta, an experienced restaurateur, we are bringing something to Key West that Key West is ready for – a reason to eat!

As we transform from what it was into what it will be, and as we wait for our real website to be built, we thought this blog would be a great opportunity to share and document our progress for anyone intrigued enough to follow!

This blog starts I would say pretty much right in the middle of our progress. We signed the lease back in July and we plan to open end of September.

The following are some photos before we started any work:

Step 1 was to rip down the black construction you can see all round the roof in the very top picture. This was a plywood railway track put up several businesses before.

Step 2 was to gut the interior and get rid of all the equipment so we had a blank canvas to work with. With an empty space all that remained was a thick layer of grease and grime on everything. No offense to the previous businesses but they all involved a lot of greasy fried food and the evidence was left behind.

Step 3 was cleaning. This included scrubbing the walls and ripping up 3 layers of floor tiles, each layer harboring a generation of grease, dirt and roaches it seemed. This was a tough job as the stench alone was enough to make your stomach churn. But we were glad we did it once we had cleared it back to the bare concrete. I have to thank Paul and our friend Eric for undertaking most of this task!

Step 4 was painting the interior. We turned the walls from a dirty aqua blue to a bright green – have you noticed we like green?! The concrete floor was sealed then painted a light brown.

Step 5 was painting the outside. We chose the same green as the interior because green represents what we are about and of course we want to stand out and be seen!

There is still a lot more to do on the building that day by day will get finished. But in addition to all the physical labor, which we are doing ourselves, there is of course all the ‘other stuff’ that comes with starting up a business. A very good friend of mine always says “everyday a hundred things”. How right he is!