Community rallies around Elgin restaurateur following storm disaster

Denny Cuadra had just finished putting up his vendor tent for Elgin’s Fourth of July Festival when a storm suddenly blew in, collapsing the structure and exposing all of his food and supplies to the heavy rain.

It was a moment of panic for the owner of Street Food Kingz, a catastrophe he could ill afford to have happen.

Street Food Kingz, which specializes in Puerto Rican favorites, had been part of the downtown Festival Park holiday party for three years. It was such a success for him that he wanted to make sure he was part of it again this year, Cuadra said.

Known by some as “the empanada man,” Cuadra was using a weather app to keep up with weather conditions. The event started at 5 p.m., and the forecast called for rain at 7 p.m., leaving a window of time for people to enjoy the gathering before the weather might interrupt, he said.

With 18 hours of preparation already put in, he set up on the east side of South Grove Avenue next to Danny’s Pizza.

It was only after he and his employees finished taking the food and equipment out of a U-Haul and setting up his stand that Cuadra realized the weather had shifted.

“Out of nowhere, I see the sky turning dark,” Cuadra said.

That’s when a strong wind brought down his tent, and the clouds opened, he said. Thinking quickly, he covered his equipment with the tent in the hope that the rain would soon end.

It was no small storm, and the city soon canceled the fest. Four to eight inches of rain fell on the area in about an hour, according to the National Weather Service, with a flood warning issued shortly thereafter.

When special events are planned, the city of Elgin “closely monitors weather conditions leading up to and throughout the day of the event,” spokesperson Josie Beecher-Crotty said.

“Staff evaluate forecasts, radar, onsite conditions and guidance from the National Weather Service, with public safety as the top priority,” she said.

Because weather forecasts can change significantly, “the city waits as long as reasonably possible before making a cancellation decision rather than canceling based on an uncertain forecast,” she said. The decision is made in coordination with city departments, public safety, operations and event management, she said.

Cuadra said waiting so long had serious consequences, leaving him and the other vendors with thousands of dollars in inventory.

When he realized the event wasn’t going to happen, his first thought was for his daughter. “How am I going to provide for her this month?” he said. “How am I going to pay rent?”

He and two employees managed to get everything back into the U-Haul and unloaded it at Street Food Kingz’s space inside Dream Hall in downtown Elgin.

“I said, ‘Let’s have a family dinner.’ Even though we were soaking wet, we had to eat,” Cuadra said.

Then he needed to figure out what to do next. “This food cannot go to waste,” he said.

He decided he was going to have a flash sale Sunday, which he advertised on Facebook.

“I posted it. I wasn’t really expecting for people to see it and share it,” Cuadra said. “I’m a small-time business. I don’t get a lot of social media traffic.”

But his post surprised him. It had 100,000 views on Facebook within two hours and ultimately 1 million hits after he expanded it to other social media channels. Q101 radio morning host Kenzie Roman not only did a video promoting the business, she bought a tray of empanadas herself and talked about the restaurant on the air, he said.

“When I posted, I wasn’t really expecting this much love and support,” Cuadra said. “It was overwhelming.”

He ended up selling 1,200 empanadas — double what he’d hoped to sell at the fest — as well as more than 50 pounds of rice and about 180 pounds of chicken, he said.

The wait for food was a little longer than usual because Cuadra, who was working on the front lines, was short-staffed, but the staff got a shot of support every time a cheer would go up when an order was ready, he said.

“We cooked 50 empanadas at one time,” Cuadra said.

Street Food Kingz started out as a home-run business, Cuadra’s independent venture after years of experience with his family’s Puerto Rican restaurant. He moved to a ghost kitchen operation, using another restaurant’s space until he landed a spot at Dream Hall about a year and a half ago. His restaurant there is open Wednesday through Sunday.

Dream Hall owner Kevin Echevarria has given him and the other restaurants there a lot of support. “Everything I need to function, they are there for me,” he said.

Ultimately, the experience turned a pending disaster into an affirming experience, Cuadra said.

“I didn’t realize I had a community,” he said.

• Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.