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New concepts, collaborations keep local restaurant outlook bright as COVID cloud recedes

Spring has brought warmer temperatures and more patrons seeking outdoor dining options.

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Kathy Hanrahan, Out
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RALEIGH, N.C. — Trophy Tap & Table in downtown Raleigh was among the more than 100 restaurants to close in the Triangle last year, as COVID-19 restrictions wreaked havoc on the industry.
But just like the industry, the former Trophy space on Wilmington Street is seeing new life.

The space, which was previously home to Busy Bee Cafe, is being renovated and turned into a restaurant and distillery. It will be operated by the same team as Busy Bee, Trophy Tap & Table, State of Beer and Trophy Brewing Company.

"What we wanted to do was open up a new concept for downtown, which is a distillery," Trophy co-owner Chris Powers said. "Hopefully in the beginning of July, our friends and family will start to venture out a little bit more and be looking to make a trip downtown Raleigh and be able to visit us at our distillery called Young Hearts."

Young Hearts Distillery will open in the old home of Trophy Tap and Table (Courtesy of Young Hearts Distillery)

While a distillery was always something owners planned, Powers said the timeline got accelerated due to the pandemic.

The space is undergoing renovations, including the destruction of the downstairs bar. Instead, pedestrians will be able to look into the windows from the street and see the distiller working. Upstairs, management offices were removed and the back wall extended to create a 20-foot opening for sliding barn doors. Rooftop patio diners will enjoy a large outdoor awning that will have heaters and fans.

The pandemic has also given way to new collaborations.

The people behind Postmaster in Cary rebranded the restaurant as take-out burger joint Gov’t Cheeseburger during the pandemic. And when Postmaster officially closed its doors, Gov’t Cheeseburger changed its name to Fine Folk and had pop-ups at Foundation in downtown Raleigh before moving into Union Special in Raleigh’s Gateway Plaza. Fine Folk operates Wednesday through Saturday evenings at Union Special.

The owners of Kingfisher cocktail bar in Durham found a way to still serve its customers when bars were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The bar turned its patio into a pop-up restaurant and called it QueenBurger. The experiment was a success and led them to announce Queeny’s, a restaurant serving drip coffee in the mornings and lunch and dinner items priced between $9 and $14 like fried pickle spears, sandwiches, salads, entrees and desserts. It plans to open this summer directly above Kingfisher at 319 E. Chapel Hill St.

As time progresses, North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association President and CEO Lynn Minges expects more restaurants like Trophy Tap & Table and Fine Folk NC to reopen either with new concepts or in new locations.

"I do think we're gonna see restaurants come back in new places, in a new ways," Minges said. "We're not counting those restaurants lost for good yet."

The restaurant industry as a whole has been starting to see a resurgence as COVID-19 restrictions begin to lift and more people become vaccinated.

"We're beginning to see restaurants filling up again. We're seeing people coming back out into restaurants," Minges said. "We're seeing restaurants rehire employees, which is now one of the biggest challenges we're facing. And that's that there just simply aren't employees to come back into the business."

Spring has brought warmer temperatures and more patrons seeking outdoor dining options.

"We have some restaurants that are only outdoor. They don't do indoor service (during the pandemic)," Downtown Raleigh Alliance President and CEO Bill King said, noting that the city has a list of outdoor dining options on its website.

In Durham, The Streetery has helped attract people to downtown restaurants. Held every second and fourth Saturday of the month, the event includes additional outdoor seating and music.

For downtown Raleigh, the weekends have been the bright spot.

"What we're seeing, what's interesting, is that there's a big leap every weekend," King said. "It started last fall around Labor Day. There was sort of an inflection point where downtown started to see foot traffic pickup and sales pickup."

King said pedestrian counters in downtown have noticed a spike every Saturday, especially on days with great weather.

"Since the end of February, we've seen a lot of traffic. Our foot traffic was up 10 percent in March over February," King said.

To help increase outdoor dining space, the Dine Out Downtown series was started. Each Saturday night through June, a different portion of downtown Raleigh features extended outdoor seating and live music.

"We're at about 62 percent of pre-COVID level sales in food and beverage, which is the best we've had since the pandemic began," King said.

Lunch service during the week has been a challenge, King said, as many people with workplaces downtown are still working remotely.

More than 20 businesses have reopened in downtown Raleigh since Feb. 1, and seven new restaurants have announced plans to open locations there. Notably, Union Special announced that it would be opening a second location at the intersection of Davie and Fayetteville streets in the heart of downtown.

'Not all restaurants carry the same risk'

To help the hospitality and restaurant industry deal with COVID-19, the NCRLA created the "Count on Me NC" program. The public health initiative, created last year, offers guidelines and training for those in the hospitality industry.

"We're really proud in North Carolina that we were the first state to step up and create a program," Minges said. "The program was designed to create consumer confidence simply because it involved training front of the house, back of the house, restaurant owners and operators on best practices for operating during COVID-19."

The guidelines are updated frequently as more scientific information becomes available about COVID-19.

"We focused a year ago on the importance of cleaning and disinfection of high- touch surfaces. And over time ... the study of this pandemic evolved. We know that close contact and really face-to-face and being around other people in shared air is much more important," North Carolina State University Food Safety Expert Ben Chapman said.

One thing that has remained consistent, food itself hasn't been linked to the spread of COVID-19.

"A year and a half now into this pandemic, we still have not really seen any change in the science that would suggest that food itself is a transmission vehicle," Chapman said. "The kind of interesting part about food safety and COVID is that it's all the things that aren't the food. It's really the people."

With person-to-person transmission still an issue, Chapman said patrons of restaurants need to continue focus on wearing masks even if they are vaccinated.

"Getting relaxed around being vaccinated is fine," Chapman said, "but it doesn't mean that I can't also carry that virus and transmit it to other people."

While touting a fully vaccinated staff is great, Chapman said it is important that businesses continue to have staff wear masks regardless.

For those wanting to dine out whether indoors or outside, Chapman suggests doing research about the restaurant's practices before dining.

"Not all restaurants carry the same risk when it comes to dining. That means how well they are enforcing mask policies or mandates, both within their patrons and with their servers," Chapman said. "How well they are really looking at their dining areas to see what's the best way to maximize the amount of people in here for our restaurant, but also in a safe way, and really thinking about how do we do physical distancing in those settings."

With more people expected to dine out in spring and summer, restaurants will continue to evolve their strategies when dealing with COVID-19.

"The food industry is preparing to deal with COVID for years. They are very much aware that there are so many unknowns," Chapman said. "I think we're all hoping that it won't be something that we're talking about five years from now, but certainly I think we're all prepared to manage it for some time."

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