Fire destroys Pappas Drive In & Family Restaurant, an NSB landmark for nearly 55 years
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — An iconic spot in the city for almost 55 years, Pappas Drive In & Family Restaurant was destroyed in a fire Monday morning.
Vic Ganoe, the current owner of the restaurant located at 1103 N. Dixie Freeway (U.S. 1) said he received a call around midnight from the alarm company saying there was smoke in the kitchen.
“I checked the cameras, cameras were down,” Ganoe said. “I came up here, and it was on fire.”
Ganoe said the restaurant burned all night.
The restaurant had closed at its regular hour of 9 p.m. Sunday and “everybody was out by 9:45 p.m.,” he said.
How to help Pappas' staff: NSB's Pappas Drive In manager, longtime customer set up GoFundMe to help staff after fire
“I am worried about my staff, people that work here and (now) don’t have jobs, that’s what I’m worried about,” Ganoe said, adding that he’s grateful no one was hurt. “If it goes the way we want it to, we’ll put it back — rebuild it and put it back.”
Pappas Drive-In ‘likely total loss,’ fire chief says
New Smyrna Beach Fire Chief Shawn VanDemark said the call came in around midnight and when crews got to the scene, “flames were already coming out of the building.”
“We found the majority of the fire toward the rear attic space,” he said. “The age of the building and the construction type of the building make it more difficult to access the void space to put (the fire) out.”
The department called in the state’s fire marshal to assist in the investigation, which, as of Monday morning, had not identified a cause.
Two ladder trucks helped firefighters dump thousands of gallons of water, “but it is likely a total loss.”
VanDemark said there is no way to determine how long the investigation will take.
There were no injuries during the incident and no other buildings were affected, he added.
‘It feels very bad’
Ganoe bought the business last year — a spot he called a local “landmark” for the city, which was first introduced by its original owner, Chris Pappas.
“It feels very bad,” Pappas said.
Pappas is still owns the property on U.S. 1 and leases it to Ganoe.
Ganoe said the fire comes at an especially bad time as “a lot of things were going in the right way.”
“We just had Brad Pitt here, we were just at Daytona for the race, business was awesome,” he said.
Brad Pitt was in town in January filming a movie rumored to be titled "Apex" a movie that revolves around the world of Formula 1 racing, according to media reports.
Ganoe said the restaurant is thinking about setting up a GoFundMe account to help support the staff, which consists of around 34 people.
“My biggest priority is making sure the staff is fine,” he said. “The building and these things, they can be replaced … . We’ve got to do something soon, but we’ll figure it out.”
He and Pappas will now work together to return the restaurant to the same spot on U.S. 1.
“It’s a historic landmark in New Smyrna,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of work because there is nothing left.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NSB's iconic Pappas Drive In & Family Restaurant destroyed in fire
