Square One Kitchens’ Owners Work to Bounce Back to Business After Fire

It’s been nearly a month since firefighters battled a fire at Square One Kitchens in Fargo.

Twenty five businesses relied on Square One Kitchens for their commercial cooking space.

But just a month ago that all changed.

Many of the businesses are working out of their homes and some ventured into their own commercial space.
 
Haylee and Seth are spending their day painting.

In less than a month, they hope to open their first store, Power Plate Meals.
 
“Make everyone’s favorite meals that aren’t so happy into a healthy alternative,” said Haylee.
 
It’s their first store, but the business has been around and that’s thanks to Square One.
 
“Square One was definitely the reason we are here today,” says Swanson.
 
“They’re kind of your family because you work with them so much, they’re essentially co-workers even though they all own their own businesses,” says Square One Kitchens Owner, Casey Steele.

Casey misses seeing her 25 clients every day.

She opened Square One three years ago and just like that, along with her shop, three years of hard work burned away.
 
“We were young when we started so it was doing it yourself as much as you can, and we spent five months in here trying to build it the first time,” says Steele.
 
Haylee can remember some long nights spent at the kitchen and soon she’ll pull a few more all-nighters…this time in her own space.
 
“People are making their own move into some of their own spaces which they were working on before. So that’s good, that’s what we’re for,” says Steele.
 
“People can buy meals for the week and meals for the day. There will also be healthy snacks and dessert, all with natural ingredients.”

 Casey hopes to open by mid-May, but with construction you never know.
 
“We’ll keep trucking along as fast as we can,” says Steele.

Workers spent the day at Square One spraying the space with shellac because even a month later, the smoke odor still fills the building.