After Sarasota restaurant fire, more than $100K in donations raised

More than $101,000 in donations have poured in to support the owners of a Sarasota restaurant, days after a weekend fire tore apart its interior. Pacific Rim sustained an electrical fire July 18 and will be closed until further notice.

“My heart is so deep. I have never seen the community like this in my entire life,” Veth Senenoi, who owns Pacific Rim on Hillview Street and Bangkok on Swift Road with his wife, tells the Business Observer. In the aftermath of the blaze, he says, he has received text messages, emails and phone calls from people who want to help, including fellow restaurateurs from Longboat to Siesta Key to Main Street. People have also reached out to share their fondest memories of Pacific Rim, which has been serving up Asian fusion cuisine since October 1998. The Hillview spot is just south of the main building for Sarasota Memorial Hospital. 

Senenoi says he believes the fire began around 3 or 4 a.m. July 18, based on conversations with the state fire marshal, which is investigating the blaze. The call to report the fire in the 1800 block of Hillview Street came in around 6:50 a.m July 18, according to a Sarasota County spokesperson. After the fire was upgraded to two alarms, crews extinguished the blaze around 7:37 a.m. Nobody was injured.

The entire restaurant has been touched by smoke, with the sushi bar's white tiles now turned black and melted fans wilting from the ceiling. An electrical area in the back of the restaurant is believed to have been where the fire originated, according to Senenoi. The smell of an electrical fire hangs in the air a block away.

“Right now, our priority is ensuring the safety of our team and assessing the full extent of the damage,” Senenoi wrote on Facebook July 18. “We are truly devastated by this unexpected turn of events. However, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your unwavering support over the years.”

Photo by Elizabeth King

In its nearly 30-year history, Pacific Rim sustained one other fire, a smaller blaze, that Senenoi says occurred in the front of the restaurant, leading to a brief closure in 2004.

The day of the recent fire, Sarasota tech entrepreneur Rich Swier Jr. created a GoFundMe campaign to help the Senenois, whom he described as his best friends.

“I realize that Insurance will help pay for most of the damage, but as we all know, the time it takes to go thru the process can be months, and the end result is never enough to cover the loss of business,” Swier wrote on the GoFundMe page. “The funding is for getting help now and starting to repair damage. I truly hope the community can help them through this tough time.”

By 3:45 p.m. on Monday, July 20, the GoFundMe campaign has raised $101,393 — 78% toward a stated goal of $130,000, with 215 separate donations. 

Senenoi says he plans to use the money toward remodeling the Hillview Street restaurant. He adds he will pay the nearly 20 employees who worked at Pacific Rim what he can until the restaurant is up and running again.

“I want to make it better than before,” Senenoi says of Pacific Rim. “I’m so grateful for all the community support. I love them. I would do exactly the same for them.”