Timber Fire 'A Gut Punch' For Iconic Restaurant Losing $70K Per Day

MONTEREY COUNTY, CA — For over a week, a skeleton crew at the longstanding cliffside restaurant Nepenthe in Big Sur has been serving coffee and cookies to first responders fighting the encroaching Timber Fire. But as evacuation orders lift, staff plan to reopen Thursday to all diners, not just those battling the blaze.

The wildfire, which on Wednesday evening was 5,626 acres and 27 percent contained, has cost the business $70,000 per day across the main restaurant, an on-site cafe and an artisan shop, since they were forced to close Aug. 10, according to CEO and General Manager Kirk Gafill.

He characterized the blaze’s timing, during peak season in August, as a “bit of a gut punch.”

“Fires are just inherently very stressful; there’s a lot of anxiety and fear, at times, associated with them,” he said.

At one point, the blaze was less than a half-mile from the business.

'Proud Of Our Family'

In the days after the Timber Fire began on Aug. 8, Nepenthe’s property, normally home to 40 people, was reduced to eight — including Gafill, his mother and his son — who stayed to maintain and secure the site, and to offer firefighters use of the bathrooms and a restorative bite to eat.

“I’m really proud of our family for staying there and holding it down,” said Gafill’s cousin, Romney Steele, author of “My Nepenthe,” whose grandparents founded the restaurant in 1949, and who now co-owns The Cook and Her Farmer in Oakland and sits on Nepenthe’s board of directors.

Fires have been a persistent issue for the restaurant, with property and business insurance more than doubling over the last five years, alongside other sharply rising costs, according to Steele.

But in the short term, things were looking up midweek, as firefighters made significant progress against the Timber Fire on Wednesday, resulting in evacuation orders being reduced to warnings, according to Cal Fire, although some orders remained in place. The blaze has threatened over 500 structures and more than 1,600 personnel are involved in the effort to fight it.

But Gafill noted damaged landscape in Big Sur typically regrows and recovers quickly after a fire.

“We’ve had a lot worse,” he said.