Arrow Street Crepe Restaurant Reopens

Three months after it first closed for renovations, One Arrow Street Crepes has reopened, thanks in part to a cash infusion from Harvard investors.

The store shut down in April to add new equipment and refurbish its serving area, but began to pile up debts after owners became wrapped up in a management dispute, delaying reopening until more than two months after the scheduled date.

Now, the popular eatery has reopened its doors, in part because of funding from a handful of the store's loyal customers.

"We frequented the store a lot," said Benjamin E. Choi '98, one of a group of recent Harvard graduates who share an apartment near the restaurant. "After the store closed we were concerned so we invited [the store's management] over for dinner."

Choi said that after talking with Murray, his friends scraped together the money needed for the store to begin operating again.

"It turned out that we were able to pull together some money to help reopen the store," Choi said.

The store's reopening had also been slowed by a management dispute between Murray and the restaurant's former chef. The chef--who Murray said prevented the store from starting business again by taking equipment from the building and refusing to work--has been replaced by Ralph Kelly, a chef and former wine steward originally from San Francisco, Calif.

"The former chef was terminated for neglecting his post," said Murray, who declined to discuss the specifics of the earlier management dispute, citing ongoing litigation over the matter.

Murray was happy, however, to discuss the renovations the store has undergone, which have opened up more serving space to accommodate greater demand.

"We built two new counters, we added two additional crepe burners, and purchased two new refrigerators, as well as doing some behind the scenes restructuring," Murray said.

The store also plans to add smoothies to its menu, which currently features over 30 crepe options.

Murray said particularly popular items include the lemon sugar and fresh summer berries sweet crepes and the egg, baby spinach, tomato, scallion and olives crepes.

Murray and his investors said they have big plans for the place.

"We're interested in seeing something like this crepe shop really change the eating scene at Harvard Square," Choi said.

"It's their intention as well as ours to build this place into a new Harvard hangout," Murray added.