Cafe owner looks ahead after fire

A fire destroyed the Thompson Falls Genki Asian Cafe on October 17. The blaze burned all night, and the next day there was nothing left but scraps of metal and ash. Jerry Lai, the owner of Genki, has been in the area for several years, however, few know the story of the man who lost everything in that fire. Lai lived in the back of the restaurant and was awoken late that Saturday night to a banging on his door. When he went to answer it, he found Thompson Falls Police Officer Roy Scott who told him his home was on fire and that he had to leave.

According to the investigation, in combination with witnesses, it was found that the fire likely started from the corner of the front left eating area, closest to the shared wall with the First Baptist Church. Witnesses said they saw sparks not long before the building went ablaze. Lai said that he was never able to go back inside to save anything. When he awoke, Lai said that all he smelled was a little smoke he attributed to people burning things to keep warm during that chilly night. The idea that his building could be on fire was the furthest thing from his mind. When he was brought outside, he grabbed a garden hose and started fighting small flames in the back, keeping the fire from getting to the back part of the church. Lai said he lost everything in the fire.

Lai moved to the United States from Taiwan when he was about 19 years old, and first lived in San Francisco. He had come for a better education and started at Lincoln University. He was there for a semester and yearned for a more open environment and to be closer to nature. He heard about Montana from a professor who was from there. Lai found himself moving north and attending the University of Montana, where he would spend the next five years. While he was there, he taught martial arts, of which he is a skilled black belt. He dreamed of opening a place to continue teaching and traveled back to Asia to further study the possibility. When he returned there was already a place teaching martial arts in Missoula and Lai believed the competition, at the time, would have created too much pressure for him to be successful.

Lai fell back on his previous education in cooking and food service he received from school in Taipei and Hong Kong and took a job in Alaska. He was there a year and discovered that saving money there was difficult as the work was slow during wintertime. He returned to Missoula and used what he had learned in Alaska to open his first restaurant, which was one of only two Asian-style restaurants in the city at the time. He rented an old A&W Restaurant building, which he bought after two years. Lai says that he had always loved to explore new foods, however, never thought that would be his career. His father was the first to suggest to him that he follow food service as a fall back. The idea of getting into the food business suited him because he had always wanted to be self-employed, and so owning and operating a restaurant seemed to fall into place. He also figured that if things didn't go well, and he failed, he could always fall back to his degree, which was in home economics and international affairs regarding political science.

However, after the success of his first restaurant he sold that one and opened several more. He began starting up restaurants and selling them. Lai says that many people are more willing to purchase a business that is already established. He opened restaurants all over northwest Montana in Missoula, Kalispell, Lolo, Butte, Helena and more. The last place he sold was in Kalispell and helped pay for the start-up of the one in Thompson Falls. Lai worked hard to create a place for his son, Jeremy. The four-year-old-boy now lives in China with Lai's wife. Lai had been saving up, and even had a bed purchased and a room set up for his son. The furniture was lost in the fire. "That is something that is really devastating to me," said Lai.

Eventually, Lai wants to rebuild the Genki restaurant in Thompson Falls. He is working on a property in Butte and hopes that if that goes well, he will be able to rebuild, but with COVID-19 slowing everything down, he is not sure when that will be. His temporary solution is the food wagon he drives between Trout Creek and Plains. Lai said that he can be found in Plains on Thursdays and Fridays in front of the railroad tracks on Main Street side, and in Trout Creek at the Local Store on weekends. He is only serving when the weather is good, as his customers must eat outside the truck.

Lai wanted to express a significant thank you to all the locals, the churches and to the community as a whole for supporting him and helping him during his loss. "Thanks to all of my customers. I am so grateful for what they have done for me, and I am so thankful to Roy Scott and the police for saving my life," said Lai.