The wildfires this past summer are still impacting businesses on the other side of town.
The Paris Baguette location in Reno was supposed to be open by now, but NV Energy told the owner its resources are stretched thin fixing infrastructure in the North Valleys. That's put projects like his power upgrade on hold.
Jim Yoell and his wife, Eva Chen, lived in San Jose for a time. After they moved to Reno, she tried to buy him a birthday cake at one of their favorite cafes.
“We just assumed there be one here in town, Paris Baguette, and there's not. The closest one at the time was Sacramento,” Yoell says.
That led the two to explore their own franchise location in the Biggest Little City. Fast forward to today, and they've got nearly everything ready to open at 3929 South McCarran Boulevard, near the Longley Lane intersection.
The location is decorated, and all of the ovens, fridges, and staff are ready to roll.
The only problem? There’s not enough power.
“We need to have 600 dedicated amps just to our building,” Yoell says.
The owner says NV Energy was originally scheduled to upgrade the power to the building over six weeks ago. The upgrade didn't get under way until last week, while the electric company was playing catch-up after a summer of wildfires.
“We had the one fire and then we had another fire, then we had another fire,” Yoell says, “so we didn't really know what was going to happen in terms of the delays. We were hopeful at the end, wishful that that it wouldn't have been such a long delay."
NV Energy tells us 250 power poles were damaged in the Bug, Stallion, and Hawk fires, and 13 crews were mobilized to repair infrastructure and restore service.
In a statement sent to 2 News Nevada, NV Energy said the following:
“In this case, wildfire restoration efforts affected the timing of utility work needed to support upgraded electrical service at 3923 S. McCarran Blvd. As crews focused on repairing damaged infrastructure and restoring service to customers affected by the fires, some planned projects experienced delays. While we recognize the impact those delays can have on customers and business owners, restoring power and rebuilding critical infrastructure for communities affected by the fires had to remain our top priority.”
Yoell says they currently have enough power to turn on the lights, but not much else. The new bakery will have over a dozen ovens, as well as a walk-in fridge and a freezer, and various other machines.
“We have six huge HVAC units on the roof,” he says. “All of our walk-ins, our ovens, our fryer, all of that electrical stuff."
When it opens, Yoell says the Reno location will be the largest Paris Baguette in the United States at 6,200 feet. It's also the only one with a reservable party room that comfortably seats 32 people.
For now, he's got 12 staff on payroll, and rent due, with no revenue offsetting those costs.
“We're fine,” he says. “We're in this for the long haul. It's not ideal, but like I said, there was nothing we could do about the situation."
Yoell says he and his staff just returned from a four-week trip to Costa Mesa, California, for corporate training. In the meantime, they're organizing, training, and preparing for when the opening finally comes.
“My wife and I are big into giving back to the community, and this is our way of doing it,” Yoell says.
In its statement, NV Energy said they hope to have a new transformer installed and other utility work finished by next Thursday, October 29.
Yoell says the Paris Baguette is currently looking to open around Thanksgiving.
