Joppa Experience, the Chicago soul food restaurant in the River Bend neighborhood, closes on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. Christine Johnson, who opened the restaurant at 1829 Sixth Ave., Des Moines, in April, announced the closing on Facebook.
“Let me be real with you the way I’ve always been. I can’t afford to keep the doors open anymore. I’ve fought with everything in me — my money, my time, my strength, my tears, homeless and more faith than y’all will ever know. Some days I stood in that kitchen running on nothing but prayer and sheer determination,” she wrote.
While the restaurant that offers Chicago beef, catfish sandwiches, and Friday specials closes, Johnson said she will make a comeback. “I’m stepping back to breathe, rebuild, and come back stronger — with clarity, resources, power, and a fresh anointing on this assignment. When Joppa returns, it’s coming back bigger, better, and blessed,” she wrote.
A GoFundMe helps raise money to keep the restaurant alive
On Dec. 1, Loulou Dickey started a GoFundMe to raise $10,000 to save the restaurant. Dickey said that “Johnson took what was once a run-down convenience store and turned it into something extraordinary. She did the majority of it on her own dime, taking a space in disrepair and making it a vibrant restaurant.”
Johnson’s lease required her to repair the plumbing, electrical, flooring and kitchen infrastructure, Dickey said. “She poured her time, money, and soul into every inch,” Dickey said.
So far, the GoFundMe has raised $2,250 toward the goal after being open for five hours. The fund is “the minimum needed to catch up and stay afloat. But anything beyond that would give Christine some much-needed breathing room — to make additional improvements, to plan for the future, and to work with a financial advisor to help ensure the restaurant stays on solid footing. A stronger Joppa Experience benefits the entire neighborhood, and every dollar gets us closer.”
Find the GoFundMe at gofundme.com.
Johnson, who went to Washburne Culinary & Hospitality Institute in Chicago and ran a lunchroom for the Chicago Public Schools before moving to Des Moines, sold her food on Facebook and later at a storefront at Merle Hay Mall. She converted the former Git-N-Go Convenience Store into a restaurant decorated in bright greens and purples in mid-April.
(This article was updated with new information about a GoFundMe.)
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Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. You can reach out to her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines’ Joppa Experience closes, plans for a return
Reporting by Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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