NC Restaurateurs of the Year face latest challenge with coronavirus
Whiskey Kitchen's owners have gone from being named the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association's Restaurateurs of the Year to fighting to keep their business alive amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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In February, owners Michael Thor and Jeff Mickel received the state hospitality community's highest honor at a gala. Just over a month later, Gov. Roy Cooper would order all restaurant dine-in options to cease, leaving places like Whiskey Kitchen – with its bustling patio poised for the busy spring dining season – empty.
Whiskey Kitchen started offering take-out and even delivery, transported by its own staff.
In 2015, a motorcycle accident left him a quadriplegic. He spent time recovering in Atlanta, and Mickel opened the restaurant in August 2016 and operated it without him for more than a year.
"Those two are fantastic. They are mentors in so many ways," Whiskey Kitchen general manager Johanna Newman said Tuesday. "They have been the biggest support system we could ask for ... they're in there with us every day, all day, making all the hard decisions and coming up with all the ideas and helping us implement everything."
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