Stephen Montoya
Toshia “Nana” Ramsey is serving customers again after a fire in June.
Nana’s Kitchen founder Toshia “Nana” Ramsey says she will never forget seeing fire crews work to put out the blaze that nearly destroyed her beloved family restaurant in late June.
The fire, which consumed most of the interior of the east section of the eatery at 7403 John T. White Road, was so hot that it blew out windows, buckled a section of the roof, and incinerated nearly everything that was inside. However, the other two sections of Nana’s restaurant were spared, thanks to the aid of some eyewitnesses, local fire crews, and an unknown firewall.
Nana’s has been relegated exclusively to takeout because of the fire’s damage, but business has been good, she says.
Ramsey says it was surreal to see news crews film the smoke-filled structure she and her family helped build over several years.
“I literally live like two minutes from here. So, when I came around the corner all I could see were flames and firetrucks,” she says. “I just felt numb, I was in shock … I just couldn’t believe it.”
As she studied the scene, she began thinking, of course, what inside the restaurant was burning.
The interior section that was destroyed was being used as a storage area, which contained Nana’s catering equipment, some cleaning supplies, plus a sundry of mops, aprons and towels. After a thorough investigation, the cause came down to a combustion fire that ignited in the towels, of all things.
“They told me that the combustion process started in the dryer,” she says. “And it can take hours for it to ignite. That’s why when my crew left for the evening there was no fire.”
After all was said and done, most of the items that were left in this section of the restaurant were destroyed. Yet, thanks to a firewall that separated the storage area from the main dining and kitchen areas, the heart of Nana’s business was essentially untouched by the fire.
What did make it through to the other two sections of the restaurant, however, was smoke. Since then, Ramsey and her crew have made huge leaps toward creating a safe culinary environment for the eatery’s huge base of foodies with the use of air scrubbers. Currently, there’s not a hint of smoke in the first two rooms.
With the initial shock of the fire wearing off, Ramsey says renovation plans are now what occupy her thoughts. What she has planned will affect the first two dining areas.
Some of the revamp includes a redesign by the Foxcroft design team of Dallas which designed the newly renovated Walloon’s restaurant on Fort Worth’s Near Southside.
“When we revamp, we have decided to double the dining room size, which means we are going to take the front half and double it all the way toward the west side of the building,” she says. Ramsey estimates the remodel to be underway by January.
Even though Nana’s has been limited since the fire takeout, she says business is still booming.
“We just had an influencer @mr.chimetime swing by one day and shoot a video eating our food and it got over 500,000 views on TikTok,” Ramsey says. “So, now, I have people coming in from everywhere.”
@mr.chimetime, whose Instagram account says he’s based in North Carolina, has more than 409,000 on Instagram and a million on TikTok.
People more often than not do as he says. These influencers are phenomenons. They show up, take a few pictures and a video, and next thing you know there’s a line out the door.
In addition to Nana’s recent uptick in social media notoriety, Ramsey says that she also has plans to expand to a second locale next year in the Viridian development, a high-end master-planned neighborhood in north Arlington.
“I am negotiating the last phase of Viridian, which is coming next year,” she says.
Expansion plans aside, Ramsey says she’s very content doing business in an area she has come to love and be a part of.
“We’ve been asked to move several times [to other locations], but I like it here, this is my community, this is my home,” she says. “I am just grateful to the outpouring of concern and business since the fire. I feel truly blessed.”