COLFAX, WA – The first go round for Colfax’s restaurant incubator isn’t working out.

Wild Ember Kitchen has posted on Facebook that they are going out of business at the end of the year. The message thanks Colfax residents for their support but notes that they have exhausted all options to stay open. The post also thanks the Colfax Downtown Association for the opportunity. Wild Ember Kitchen will close December 31st.

This was the first tenant for the restaurant incubator in Colfax. The Colfax Downtown Association bought the old Washington Federal Building on Main Street. The organization used a 2.3 million dollar grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce to remodel the old bank into restaurant space. The idea of the incubator is to support start-up restaurants so they can eventually move to their own location freeing up the space for another new offering. That didn’t work on the first attempt as Wild Ember Kitchen was only open for a little over a year. The Colfax Downtown Association received that large state grant for the restaurant incubator three years ago.