By Paul Thompson
Northeast News
June 22, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – After the third robbery in their inaugural year of business, Rambo’s co-owners Olivia Gomez and husband Ramchandra Sajnani almost closed up shop.

Business had already been slow, and the restaurateurs were still looking to establish a foothold in the Historic Northeast. According to Gomez, the repeated break-ins were so frustrating that she and her husband considered shuttering the business.

“At the moment it’s like, ‘You know what? Close those doors, take the key to the owner, and let’s go,’” said Gomez. “After that, you start cleaning, and it’s, ‘Let’s get ready. Let’s do it again.’”

After finding out just how close the local restaurant came to closing, a group of local residents took to social media to draw some positive attention to the star-crossed business. Led by Michael Stringer, the Real Northeast Facebook page organized a ‘Rambo’s Night’ on Thursday, June 16 to support the restaurant.

“That day that she told me that she had gotten broken into…tears were coming down, and I was holding back tears just because I could feel how bad she felt about the whole thing,” said Stringer. “That’s when I came up with that whole idea to do a community night there.”

At 6:00 p.m. that evening, the restaurant was packed with customers, some of whom were trying Rambo’s for the first time. The plan to introduce more of the community to the fried chicken and burger restaurant had worked. The next day, Gomez relayed her thanks at the outpouring of support for the Independence Avenue restaurant.

“It was just amazing, and I hope I can see them often,” said Gomez. “We started seven or eight months ago, and having these people doing all of this for us, it just makes us continue (to work) hard.”

Of course, the community support for Rambo’s likely never would have materialized if Stringer and others didn’t legitimately enjoy the restaurant’s made-to-order menu. Thankfully, the overwhelmingly positive reviews popping up on social media have proven that the restaurant is worthy of a dedicated customer base. Furthermore, Stringer and others aimed to prove that the Northeast community could support local restaurants that aren’t national chains.

“They’ve been getting such good reviews and good feedback; so it was something that I could always believe in. I believed in the product all along, and then they were so nice on top of it,” said Stringer. “If we lose them, this is going to be bad for the area, because it says that we can’t support good mom and pop businesses like this. I don’t believe Northeast is like that.”

Gomez has seen the response on Facebook, and she acknowledges that they’ve helped buoy her and her husband’s spirits. If they hadn’t seen such positive responses from the customers who have shown up, the couple might have long since given up on the restaurant’s current location.

“Seeing so many good reviews, it’s like, ‘Okay, I’m ready for the next day,’” said Gomez. “That’s why we are still here open.”