Coronavirus wreaks havoc for caterers, event industry

Rocky Top Catering is one of one of many catering companies and venues dealing with the disaster created by COVID-19.

"It is absolutely just a nightmare," said Dean Ogan, owner of Rocky Top.

On Wednesday, the Raleigh company had delivery trucks parked, supplies stacked on shelves and a handful of chefs chopping vegetables in their normally scrambling kitchen.

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Ogan said, this time of year, he handles roughly 60 weddings a month.

Now, he has none.

He and other vendors like Junction West in downtown Raleigh are included in Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order that limits food service to carry-out, drive-thru and delivery.

Rocky Top is now temporarily out of business. Most of its 320 workers have been laid off.

Ogan said there have been “a lot of teary conversations” with brides-to-be who booked his catering.

“Think about that: Your daughters and their weddings and having to reschedule after planning for a year, year-and-a-half,” he said. “We’re devastated for our clients."

He said that 95% of brides who had planned weddings in the next couple of months with him have rescheduled, warning about the fallout from that.

“Those are taking up dates in the fall that we probably would have booked for other weddings,” he said.

With 23 years of catering, Rocky Top also handles events for University of North Carolina Athletics, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the state legislature, all of which have been canceled.

"It’s countless events, countless," Ogan said. "I haven’t even gotten to the point where I can figure out what the loss of revenue is going to look like."

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He said he fears that, even when the crisis subsides, people won't have the money to cover their original plans.

"God bless them,” he said. “It’s the biggest day of their life, and for them to have to go through this, it’s terrible. All we can do is find a great day in the future for them and make sure they have the best day of their life when that day comes."

Rocky Top Catering is currently offering pickup and delivery meals in accordance with the current government regulations.