The rapid spread of the coronavirus brought Charlotte’s restaurants to a rapid halt last week. Restaurants went from nearly full dining rooms on Friday to near emptiness on Sunday night before Governor Roy Cooper announced mandated dining room closures would take effect on Tuesday, March 17.

Some restaurants decided to close down on Monday before the mandated closure deadline, such as Uptown’s Haymaker and Rare Roots Hospitality’s restaurants, including Dressler’s, Fin & Fino, Dogwood, and The Porter’s House. Rare Roots gave all of its perishable foods to employees.

Haymaker owner William Dissen says he decided to close before the deadline because saw the writing on the wall, and called the decision to close early part of his duty as the owner of a social space.

Before closing, staff took inventory of products in the kitchen. Much of it was given to employees.

“We felt it was the best we could do to help them stock their refrigerators and pantries with as much healthy, local produce and goods as possible,” he adds.

With almost all restaurants laying off staff, many owners felt feeding their employees was one of the few things in their power to do.

“We decided that we would rather feed our staff with huge bags of food, that could last them several days, rather than sell the food,” VBGB and 8.2.0 owner Tom Taddeo says. “We did have some produce that we didn’t use, so we took that to Second Harvest. The idea was to take care of our own first, then do what we can for everyone else.”

Sea Level and The Waterman served family meal for their staffs at 3:30 p.m. each day. Owner Paul Manley says they used the time to help furloughed staff get signed up for unemployment benefits.

Some restaurants have shifted to take-out and delivery, using the products they had ordered for dine-in service to sell family-style meals and grab-and-go food. Not all restaurants, however, are in a position to make that pivot. Craig Utt, owner of Queen City Q, decided to temporarily halt all operations, and sent the staff home with the restaurant’s remaining food.

“Being Uptown, it wasn’t feasible to do the delivery/take-out approach and we figured that would do the most good for them during this difficult time,” he says.

For furloughed employees, having food provided for them offers at least some financial relief. If you’re looking for other ways to support those in the food industry, you can find ideas here. —Kristen Wile

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