‘Occupy Sauce the City’ organized for Ohio City Galley’s final day

Occupy Sauce the City is urging customers to show up for Ohio City Galleys final day

'Occupy Sauce the City' is urging customers to show up for Ohio City Galley's final day - Friday, Feb. 28. Vic Searcy operates Sauce the City.Marc Bona, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Today marks Ohio City Galley's final day, and a grassroots social push is trying to get the word out.

Tuesday, the owners of Ohio City Galley notified their restaurant tenants that the Cleveland operation would close Friday, Feb. 28.

#OccupySauceTheCity on Instagram urges customers to show up at 5 p.m. Friday to support Vic Searcy, who operates Sauce the City (Cleveland hot chicken) and The Burger Shop (brisket-rib-eye blended sliders). The Galley's other two eateries - Pie2 (pizza) and Grains and Greens (salads) are operated by Vince Thomascik and Brett Sawyer. Those two also own The Plum and Good Company.

The Instagram initiative is from Lauren Welch, a publicist who works with minority-owned businesses and is a friend of Searcy's.

"It's important we support local business," said Welch, who grew up in Ohio City. "When I heard the news - these are friends of mine. … I immediately created a flier - as many people as we can get. I know I can rally some folks to come out on their last day, and they are successful on their own. They didn’t need me, but it's important for all of us to do what we can to support our own."

She added: “I think it created a ripple effect of other people trying to figure out what they can do to help, what can we do to support one another in the city of Cleveland.”

Related coverage: Why didn’t Ohio City Galley work?

"I had no part," Searcy said about the online push. "We do love our customers so I appreciate it. That’s a lot of love."

Searcy, who has a stand in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, says the experience has helped him want to venture out in a brick and mortar spot of his own.

"The experience has been amazing," he said of the communal incubator business approach the Pittsburgh-based company brought to Cleveland. "When I went in, I was young and inexperienced in the executive-chef type role. I went in real humble, but I knew I had a product that was Cleveland-based and made for Cleveland."

He said he envisions being able "to occupy our own space where Sauce the City is in its own building or section where we don’t have to be under an umbrella-like (business). The Galley Group was being under that umbrella, and being as creative as we are and free-spirited it had its ups and down. I love marketing and getting to be in the field."

While the social posts urge folks to show up at 5 p.m., he said Ohio City Galley will be open normal hours, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday. Ohio City Galley is at 1400 W. 25th St., at Detroit Avenue in Cleveland.

"We're going to rock this place out 'til the cows come home," he said. "We're going to sell as many hot-chicken sandwiches as we can."

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