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Kō•än, so•ca reopen Friday, donate money to NAACP

Two popular area restaurants are reopening on Friday with plans to donate proceeds to the NAACP and Black Lives Matter Bailfund Campaign.

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Kathy Hanrahan, Out
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RALEIGH, N.C. — Two popular area restaurants are reopening on Friday with plans to donate proceeds to the NAACP and Black Lives Matter Bailfund Campaign.
The hospitality group behind Kō•än and its sister restaurant So•ca have also renamed itself hospitality•NOW. In addition to the name change, the businesses are also increasing their employees' wages to $15 minimum per hour and offering paid time off to encourage employees who feel ill to stay home. In addition, there will also be a 10% sustainable hospitality charge on all kō•än and so•ca dining experiences. Diners are encouraged to still tip their servers.

“This 10% charge will allow both restaurants to help fund sick time for employees, which keeps our guests and staff safe," owner Sean Degnan said.

Both restaurants will reopen on Friday, June 19, which is also known as Juneteenth, which celebrates the ending of slavery. The restaurants plan to donate 100 percent of all proceeds that day to the NAACP and Black Lives Matter Bailfund Campaign.

"An industry built on racism, slavery and mistreatment of vulnerable human beings, should go away for good, along with all the other statues and relics and reminders of our shameful past…the murder of George Floyd like so many others, and the many victims of sexual abuse in our community and our industry were the terrible miracles we all needed to witness, in order to ever make any real and lasting change," Degnan said.

Both restaurants will be open Tuesdays through Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m. The restaurants will be requiring all employees to wear gloves and masks. If someone (guest or employee) does get sick at the restaurant, the place will close for at least two weeks or until it is safe to reopen again.

So•ca, located in Cameron Village at the corner of Oberlin Road and Clark Avenue, was the first restaurant associated with COVID-19 in Wake County. During the last week in February, a diner who ate there tested positive for the virus.

Ko.an opened for business in Cary in November but closed four months later after COVID-19 restrictions forced owners to shut down their dine-in business. Ko-an’s sister restaurant, Soca, faced the same decision.

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