Mirth Cafe, which is located at 745 New Hampshire Street in Lawrence and Douglas County, is set for a change of location. The owner of the cafe, Ron Zahorik, revealed last Friday that it will temporarily close down this week while it makes a move to another location.
Two days ago, the kitchen in the restaurant was barred from operating by city officials because they claimed that the ventilation system did not comply with the city code. The restaurant closed down yesterday after offering music and buffet-style meals over the weekend as a part of what Zahorik described as a customer appreciation event. He also revealed that he has been in discussions with the owners of 947 New Hampshire Street and hopes to be able to move Mirth Cafe into this building by late next week.
“We’re doing the customer appreciation event this weekend to let people know what’s going on,” Zahorik admits. “We hope they will follow us.” He adds that it became necessary for the closing and the relocation to take place very quickly when he discovered that he would no longer be allowed to cook in the cafe’s current location without his cooking surfaces having a system of ventilation hoods installed over them. Zahorik had previously believed that as his cooking surfaces have no open flames or gas lines, he was operating within city codes.
Mirth Cafe kept its normal hours at the weekend by bringing in food prepared at other restaurants and at its Tonganoxie location.
Gene Salaz
