Triumph and Tragedy Marked the Pandemic Year for North Carolina Restaurants
Owners in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Tarboro talk about how they survived the shutdown
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It’s been just over a year since Gov. Cooper ordered a statewide shutdown in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic, and if there is one thing North Carolina’s restaurant industry knows for certain it’s that nothing, absolutely nothing, is certain anymore.
The past year has been marked by both triumph and tragedy, with some businesses creating new ways forward while others were forced to shutter. Restaurant and bar employees were laid off by the hundreds of thousands. Bills went unpaid and families went hungry.