ERLANGER, Ky. — A beloved Northern Kentucky restaurant that felt the full effect of COVID-19 has now suffered yet another devastating blow.

A fire broke out early Friday morning at the Colonial Cottage in Erlanger. No one was inside the building when the fire broke out, and no one was hurt, according to Erlanger Fire Department.

The fire started above the kitchen area, but crews contained them to one side of the building.

The restaurant has been in Eralnger since 1933, becoming a staple in the region. It’s only had three owners in that time. Matt and Noel Grimes have owned the restaurant for about 23 years.

It serves southern comfort food the staff describes as “what your grandma would cook for you.” The fried chicken has been voted the region’s best for 10 years in a row and running.

The Erlanger Rotary meets at the restaurant weekly. The banquet room holds wedding rehearsal dinners and baby showers.

After everything the staff at Colonial Cottage has been through, a call from one of her employees at about 4:45 A.M. was an absolute gut punch to general manager Chris Billingsley, who arrived on scene at about 5:10 A.M.

“They pretty much had the fire knocked down, but you can see the damage that already the building had occurred,” she said. “Total disbelief that something like that could happen to us here at the Cottage. We’re family here. We all consider each other family. We know each other’s birthdays and anniversaries and what not. And it’s just devastating to know that we’re not all going to be together.”

While the small, family-owned restaurant has been feeding Northern Kentucky for almost 90 years, in the last year, the staff had to reinvent the restaurant to stay alive, as many businesses did during the pandemic.

One idea was opening a drive-thru where people could call ahead and have their orders taken out to them.

“We struggled, but we saw the light. Our business has really flourished here in the last three months, and we’ve really felt the support of the customers,” Billingsley said. “We have a regular customer that’s 103 years old. Still comes in every week. We have customers that come in every day. We’ve already had regular customers come in and make sure that we’re OK. And that’s the support that we felt through the pandemic, and that we feel that we’ll have again.”

It was hard to find silver linings under all the ash and debris, but Billingsley said they were there.

For one, no one was hurt. The fire started during the small window of time in the day when no one is at the restaurant.

“We’re here 18 hours a day. We’re only not here for a very short period of time,” Billingsley said. “We had employees due to come in shortly after we all arrived, so it is one saving grace that I did not have any employees in the building at that time.”

And the damage doesn’t appear to amount to a total loss. They’ll be out for a while, Billingsley said, but she said she’s confident the Cottage can regain the momentum it was building before the fire.

“Things were looking very, very bright for us. They’re not looking extremely dim for us. We will be back,” she said.

Jessica Fette, the Mayor of Erlanger, was at the restaurant first thing in the morning.

She started a GoFundMe page, which is on the city’s website. All donations are going directly to help the employees during this time.

“It’s refreshing to know that our employees are going to be taken care of. It’s all brick and mortar. And that can be rebuilt. But the spirit of our employees, that took a hit last year, but yet they still feel like such a family, and they still feel the loyalty,” Billingsley said. “It’s refreshing that people still care that much.”