by Michelle Boudin

For weeks now, dozens of restaurant workers have spent their days volunteering at area food pantries while they wait for SouthPark’s upcoming Laurel Park to open. The New American concept, replacing the beloved Village Tavern at the base of the Rotunda Building, is now set to open just after Thanksgiving after a mechanical issue forced a delay.

“We were trying to find work for the staff to do,” Laurel Park pastry chef Jennifer Evans says. “We felt an obligation to keep them busy. With everything going on with the government shutdown, I reached out to 10 to 15 different organizations in Charlotte and The Bulb was the first to get back to me.”

Laurel Park owner Dan McCormick immediately embraced the idea.

“We wanted to find a way to serve the community while we dealt with the delays,” McCormick says. “We had hired 70 employees in the dining room, managers, and chefs and we thought we were going to be open a month ago so everyone came out for training and orientation. We have all these folks who are ready to work and some of them had left other jobs and we said, ‘What can we do?’ How can we give people hours and help out where we can?”

The effort is especially meaningful to Evans, who first heard about The Bulb nine years ago when she was newly divorced and needed help feeding her three young children. The Charlotte nonprofit — the 2025 UPPY Award winner for Nonprofit of the Year — works with area stores to take their leftover produce and distribute it at area farmers markets.  

 “It’s a nice thing to know when you don’t have food that you can get local produce from farmers, and when you’re pressed for money to get local fresh fruits and vegetables and eggs and bread,” she says. “It makes you feel joyful.”

For the past month, McCormick has paid groups of workers to volunteer out at The Bulb, Dilworth Soup Kitchen, and Second Harvest Food Bank. 

“It’s amazing and really shows the type of character he has,” Evans says of her new boss. “This is money out of his own pocket right now because we’re not open.” 

McCormick is new to the Charlotte culinary scene, but a veteran in the industry. He’s opened a dozen restaurants, primarily in downtown Chicago. He moved to the Charlotte area during the pandemic and says he’s spent the last five years finding just the right location for his first Carolina foray.  

“I’m an independent restaurateur,” McCormick says. “A chain restaurant looks at the demographics of a location and says a certain concept can work here, and I’m on the other side. I say ‘What’s the location, what’s missing in the neighborhood, what’s the most organic use of this space?’ So we designed it in many ways after the property. It’s at the base of a four-story office building, so we know it has to be upscale but it’s also approachable — a place you can comfortably have a good burger at lunch and come back in the evening for date night and have a nice meal or a bottle of wine for girls night out.” 

They signed a lease almost a year ago and have been doing construction ever since, opening up the space, raising the ceiling, and expanding the patio to make it almost as big as the dining room.

McCormick says the concept came once he got to know the neighborhood and he’s really excited about the menu. “There are several great steakhouses and Italian restaurants nearby so we knew we were not that and we wanted to be approachable. That’s how New American came into play and that gives you freedom to have a  little bit of everything.”

McCormick says diners will notice some southeastern dishes, house-made pasta that has a Napa feel, a Latin influence, some Asian inspired dishes and a little bit of Mediterranean. 

“It’s quite broad and what I’m most excited about is the French toast on the brunch menu from our pastry chef. It’s made from a medley of house made bread with a couple different kinds of brioche bread and dragon fruit, fresh strawberries and blueberries so it’s light but still has that hearty feel to it.”

Even though the volunteer efforts began as a way to be productive for the community amid opening delays, Evans says she hopes to keep the charity work going. She says they’re working on a plan to continue paying staff to volunteer even after the restaurant opens and she’s hoping other chefs and owners will follow their lead. Evans has even looped in the 99 tenants in the office building to help with a food drive.

“I don’t want this to stop when our restaurant opens,” she says. “I want this to be a lifelong thing for us.”

McCormick says he’s grateful for the support of the staff and hopes the community will embrace them once Laurel Park can finally open.  

“It’s really just about compassion for our staff,” he says. “They’re taking a bet to come work at an unproven organization. We believe there’s dignity in work and we thought there’s a benefit to the community. We’re glad to pay them for these hours because as much as we want to create a special dining experience, we also want to be an A+ employer where people love their job and so that’s where it comes from.”