UPDATE: Since posting the article below, Golden Corral co-owner, Stephen Sviatko, reached out to me to offer more information on the fate of the restaurant.
According to Sviatko, the restaurant was initially closed this summer due to plumbing problems (which we’ve covered ad nauseam). Some of the plumbing lines were not properly secured to the foundation of the building which resulted in pipes becoming separated from the building and wastewater leaking out into the ground underneath the establishment.
An investigation into the plumbing revealed several fractures in the main line. “It’s a chain of events that led to the catastrophic failure of the main line,” Sviatko said.
When the extent of the damage was realized, the company’s insurance provider was brought in to assist in paying for the repairs, as they were expected to cost in the neighborhood of $150,000. The insurance company, however, did not want to shell out any funds to address the issue.
“Vanatko Restaurants is currently undergoing a big litigation process,” said Sviatko. “Nothing has happened in 10 weeks. We don’t even have a court date.”
“Until we have a court date, nothing will change,” he stated. “We’re just sitting idle. Forty to 50 employees have all lost their jobs over this situation.”
“We’ve lost the food, we’ve lost the employees and there’s no cash flow,” Sviatko reported. He said it would likely cost $300,000 to $400,000 to reopen the restaurant.
“We’re working very hard to find a solution to this complicated issue,” he said. At posting, there was no immediate timetable for reopening. Sviatko does not expect the issue to go to court until after the new year.
Sviatko wanted to make several things clear to the public. First, the soil under the restaurant is not bad. It’s soft – it used to be a swamp, after all – but it’s not bad.
He stressed that the building itself was not not sinking (Bob Weaver stated the same thing in my last article). “The pylons have done their job,” Sviatko said, reporting the concrete slab has moved less than 10 mm in approximately 10 years.
And, finally, “We want to thank the customers who have supported us over the years,” said Sviatko.
As reported last month, the Golden Corral, located at 22 Capital Dr. in Warsaw, is still closed and presumably under repair to resolve plumbing issues that forced the health department to shut down the establishment this summer.
As of my last posting, Kosciusko County Health Inspector Bob Weaver said that should the necessary repairs be completed, the restaurant would be allowed to reopen, pending an inspection.
But here’s where the situation gets murky. Weaver also reported that he had not been in contact with the owners. I recently checked with other government entities about Golden Corral’s operating status.
Todd Slabaugh, Warsaw’s building commissioner, told me, “I have not heard anything from anyone…the necessary repairs have not been made and no contact with this office has been made as to the fate of the business.”
So I took to the Kosciusko County GIS. A company called Vanatko Restaurants LLC is registered as the owner of the establishment. Attempts to contact Vanatko were unsuccessful; all the phone numbers I called were either disconnected or rang indefinitely.
According to an article in Journal Gazette, in June
Furthermore, Golden Corral’s corporate office was unable to offer any insight as to the future of restaurant.
So, will the Warsaw location of Golden Corral be reopening? I can neither confirm nor deny that. If anyone reading this post has any information regarding the future of the restaurant (that is not speculation), feel free to share that with me.
