![]()
![]()
![]()
On March 26th, 2015, a massive gas explosion destroyed several buildings on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan’s East Village. It was a tragedy that affected many families and neighbors of ours, and we keep those hit the hardest in our thoughts every day.
Alongside this tragedy, there was a much smaller loss that day, too: our shop, Pommes Frites. Pommes Frites was destroyed when our home for 18 years, 123 2nd Avenue, collapsed. After the accident, we received a tremendous amount of support and encouragement from New Yorkers and those who had visited us from elsewhere. The love for Pommes Frites has spurred us to rebuild and renew at a brand-new location: 128 MacDougal St, just a few blocks west of of the original location!
That’s why we’re running this campaign to offer vouchers for our Belgian Frites (along with a few other neat perks.) After an outpouring of support and love from around the world, we want to bring Pommes Frites back to life, hire back all of our amazing staff, and get back to serving piping-hot frites to another generation of late-night snackers!
Long before Pommes Frites opened, I traveled to Europe as a student. I loved so much about my time there, but one element stood out: the piping hot frites I found in Belgium and the Netherlands, served in a cone with a dose of mayonnaise on top!
I worked for a European tour operator after college, and every time I made it back, I always had a cone of frites on my mind. As a lifelong New Yorker, I wondered: if New York has every imaginable street food, why wasn’t there a frites shop anywhere around for one to indulge in this amazing treat?
After years of dreaming about having my own frites shop, I took a break from my job to put together a business plan and see if I could make it a reality. And that was before the Internet was helpful with that kind of thing! The dream finally came true in January of 1997, when I opened Pommes Frites in a 500-square-foot space that would soon become a fixture on 2nd Avenue. In March of that same year, CNN Europe ran a story on us -- without telling us first! Almost immediately we had lines around the corner, and we were running out of potatoes.
From that moment on, we focused on becoming the perfect frites shop. Everything from the potato we use to ingredients for the sauces, layout of the restaurant, flooring, etc. has been tweaked to perfection over 18 years. Even the equipment in our shop was custom designed by us to help us meet the incredible task of serving anywhere from 400 to 900 customers every day.
To us, Pommes Frites was our little work of art! It was a labor of love for us -- Suzanne and partner Omer Shorshi -- and our amazing, amazing staff.
Today, Pommes Frites is set to start a new chapter in its history. We’re excited and ready to re-open in a new location this fall - and while we’re very sad to leave the East Village, this was actually the original target location from the 1996 business plan. We are so excited that visitors will be able to grab a cone of frites and stroll to Washington Square Park, or sit down in side in the space we'll be transforming into a beautiful old-world European oasis. We will even be adding new sauces and (hopefully) Belgian beer to the menu!
That said, losing a great location and all our equipment is a tremendous challenge. While we did have insurance, receiving a settlement is a slow-moving process - and what’s more, because Pommes Frites has been in operation so long, many of our assets will be considered fully or significantly depreciated.
In short, it's likely that we’ll be getting much less than we need to re-open.
Here’s a rough breakdown of the pre-opening expenses that your donations will help cover:
![]()
We've decided to set the target of this campaign to cover the cost of replacing our equipment...and any additional funds from pre-purchases of Belgian frites will allow us to reduce the amount of bank loans we need to take on, and will help us open our doors sooner!
We’re very excited to build up a new shop, including all the lessons we learned in the last 18 years. But the biggest joy will come when we can hire back our staff, and hitting our fundraising goal will help us bring every one of our talented cooks, managers, and counter staffers back on board as quickly as possible.
We wouldn’t feel right about taking donations without giving something back. The response from our customers was so incredible that we wanted to make sure we are truly involving you in our rebuilding process. Have a look below to learn about the perks we’re offering in exchange for your incredible generosity, from frites vouchers to private events at our new space.
![]()
Share Your Story And Help #bringbackthefrites
There’s one other reason why we decided to run this crowdfunding campaign - the stories that have been pouring into our inbox. We literally can’t keep up with all the folks who have shared their Pommes Frites story with us.
It seems that all these years, while we thought we were just selling fries, Pommes Frites has been a part of many lives. If you have a Pommes Frites story, you can help this campaign by sharing it - please make a post to our Facebook page, or better yet, upload a brief video about your favorite Pommes Frites memory. (Use the hashtag #bringbackthefrites!)
And thanks to every one of you - each donation, post, and share is a little push closer to the day we re-open the doors and drop potatoes in hot oil once again!
![]()
When are you re-opening?We are aiming for a launch this fall - just in time for frites weather - at 128 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, a few blocks west of our old location.
Why are you doing this? Isn't your insurance going to cover everything?
That's a great question. We will get a check from our insurance company, but we don't know how much the settlement will be, or when we'll get it.
What's more, it's very unlikely that the check will cover all of the costs of reopening. Not only has New York become much more expensive in the last eighteen years, but many of our assets will be considered "depreciated" since we have been in business for a long time. That means we'll get some percentage of their original cost, as determined by our insurer's calculations, which will be less than the cost of replacement.
Is the new Pommes Frites going to be exactly like the old Pommes Frites?
We'll be preserving the authentic European experience of the old shop, but we hope to make a few improvements. We'll be working to add new sauces and seating, and to enhance the shop's old-world feeling with beautiful medieval timber-frame Tudor design touches. We also hope to get a beer license so adult patrons can enjoy a Belgian ale with their cone of frites, just like you might in Brussels or Bruges!
I made a donation to the small campaign you'd run earlier - can I get a perk?
Of course! Unfortunately, cash.me didn't give us access to your email or we would have been in touch already. Please email in to pommesfritesnyc@gmail.com so we can make arrangements.
