Pictured: In this frame grab from video dated Nov. 7, 2025, Stooges Bar and Grill owner Debbie Self speaks about the uncertainty surrounding when she may be able to reopen her business, which employs 43 people.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The owner of Stooges Bar & Grill said growing financial losses and the ongoing investigation into last year’s deadly UPS cargo plane crash have left the future of her business in doubt.
According to a report from Louisville Business First, Debbie Self said the crash has cost her an estimated $1 million in lost sales, and she has continued paying employees while waiting for answers from investigators and insurance providers. Environmental testing has been completed inside and outside the building, but final results have not yet been released.
Stooges — located on Grade Lane near the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport — sits just outside the immediate impact zone of the November crash that killed 15 people and scattered debris across nearby properties. Although the building was not directly hit, Self said smoke, fuel, and oil contamination make reopening unlikely.
“I’m sitting here with nothing coming in and I had a good business — 43 years’ worth,” Self said. “It’s not just that. I paid over $40,000 out to keep my employees paid through Jan. 31. It’s just a lot of money going out, nothing coming in.”
Some nearby businesses were allowed to resume deliveries earlier this month after utility repairs were finished, but Self said the condition of her property has yet to be resolved. She is one of several business owners participating in a class-action lawsuit connected to the crash.
Stooges, a longtime business near the airport that was popular with UPS and Ford workers, has been operating for more than four decades. Self said it has been difficult to come to terms with the possibility that the business could close permanently while the investigation continues.
“It’s pretty bad,” she said. “I know everybody thinks ‘Oh, she can open right back up. It’ll be fine.’ No, it don’t work that way.”
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