When Gov. Roy Cooper ordered restaurants to close their dining rooms in March, restaurateurs all over the state were sent into a tailspin. Their best efforts to maintain normal business operations weren’t always enough to keep them going. The issue became more real than ever for many Franklin area diners in November when Frogtown Market owner Donnie Bishop said he would be closing its doors for good due to pandemic-related hardships. For the rest of Franklin’s small restaurants, however, questions still abound.
For some restaurants, things haven’t changed much at all. At Gazebo Creekside Café, owner Kurt Knechtel said business hasn’t dipped significantly all year. The café has plenty of outdoor seating that allowed them to host in-person diners more easily than most. They’ve also prioritized keeping their menu, prices and hours as close to where they were before the pandemic as possible to minimize interruptions in customers’ routines.
“We’re doing great because we’re an outdoor restaurant,” Knechtel said. “Social distancing is all we’ve had to do.”
Outdoor eateries and food trucks enjoy some built-in advantages that have helped them meet state regulations, but other businesses have suffered from disadvantages. Martha’s Kitchen, for example, relied heavily on a buffet before the pandemic that they can no longer offer, has a relatively small dining space that doesn’t make social distancing easy and doesn’t have convenient roadside access for a curbside pickup option.
Owner Martha Peak said she’s explored options for selling the restaurant because of the financial burden that comes with continuing to run it in the face of such imposing obstacles.
“I haven’t paid myself since March 17,” Peak said.
Even if restrictions were to loosen significantly in the coming weeks, significant damage has already been done, since Franklin gets its biggest influx of tourists in the summer and fall for outdoor activities.
Gary Murphy, owner of Root and Barrel, said that his business got plenty of patronage when the foliage was at its peak this year and saw good showings at Winter Wonderland as well, but the time in between painted a less optimistic picture of what the cold weather months will look like.
“Once all the leaves had hit the ground, business dropped off just like that,” Murphy said.
It’s unlikely for restrictions to ease up in the near future anyway. Cooper extended Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan for three weeks on Nov. 23, keeping restaurants at 50 percent capacity until at least Dec. 11. Since then, both the United States and North Carolina have seen their highest single-day coronavirus death tolls. With health officials warning of winter surge, restaurant owners are bracing for the worst.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon,” said Michael Hunt, owner of Haywood Smokehouse. “It may get worse before it gets better.”
If there’s one thing that these entrepreneurs believe can keep them afloat through the remainder of the pandemic, it’s loyalty from their customers. At Ms. Lois’ Restaurant, owner Marcie Phillips said that business has taken a hit, but they’ve been able to get through it reasonably well because many of the same people who have visited them for decades are standing by them. She said it’s important to the whole restaurant family to keep up a sense of community right now.
“We’ve been here for 27 years,” Phillips said. “People depend on us, and we depend on them.”
Linda Harbuck, executive director of the Franklin Chamber of Commerce, said that local restaurant owners have done a commendable job of adapting to changes and keeping people fed. She encourages local diners to keep small businesses close to their hearts when they go out to eat this holiday season and remember how important each of them is to making Franklin the town that it is.
“We are not a big town,” Harbuck said. “If anyone’s not here anymore, they’re going to be missed.”