The Mayobird’s website explains that it has indeed flown the coop, but its doors remain open. It just migrated a little further down East Boulevard — as well as into a commissary kitchen in West Charlotte. Leaving behind her former Dilworth space owned by Atrium Health where The Penguin will soon set up nest, owner Deedee Mills Hagner is still at it: serving up Southern charm, a generous spirit, and her full spread of chicken salads. The nine flavor profiles range from curry, apples, and golden raisins (“Big Bird”) to bread and butter pickles and eggs (“Southern”) and bacon, sour cream, chives, and cheddar (“Loaded”).

The first of The Mayobird’s two new locations is a market-style takeout window on a Dilworth bungalow front porch. It boasts a full coffee bar with standard fare, as well as unique brews like iced white chocolate raspberry latte. Customers no longer have the dine-in atmosphere, but Hagner hopes they’ll still feel welcome to sit a spell — perhaps in the old location’s signature rocking chairs. From this spot, customers can order limited breakfast items, a wide array of chicken salads, sides, and extras to go Tuesday through Saturday during breakfast and lunch hours.

The Mayobird has also leased a prep kitchen at The City Kitch, where Hagner and team prepare bulk and catering orders as well as lunchtime favorites for the business crowd. Here, customers can order from the full menu, including sandwiches and salads, on weekdays during lunch hours. Orders can be placed online or onsite, for pick-up or delivery. 

The decision to downsize emerged out of a goal to become “fill-in-the-blank proof,” as Hagner puts it. “COVID-proof or the next thing proof, that was the goal: to be able to stay open, no matter what happens,” she says. 

Not all of Hagner’s concepts could be adapted in such a way. In addition to her Dilworth eateries — The Mayobird and full-service restaurant The Summit Room — there was Joe & Nosh, which paid homage to The Coffee Cup through a grand scale photo of the historic establishment, one of the first to desegregate dining service in the city during the ’60s. There was also The Packhouse, which honored her Williamston, N.C. roots and farming heritage with a reclaimed barn wood interior, tobacco basket canopy, food served up in vintage bakeware, and Cheerwine cocktails. These two ventures became overwhelming and unrealistic for Hagner sustain as a sole operator, as well as a single parent. She decided to close both Joe & Nosh and The Packhouse to concentrate her full efforts and energy into her family and staying afloat as a restaurateur, focusing solely on The Mayobird and Summit Room. Then came COVID-19.

Even when Summit Room was permitted to reopen, the intimate dining room was cut to impractical levels. “We were already small,” Hagner says, “With such a setting, the half-capacity and six-feet… We weren’t able to do it. And The Mayobird alone couldn’t sustain both.” 

The two restaurants shared a dual-space facility. Iconic Charlotte ice cream shop-turned-drive-in-turned Plaza Midwood neighborhood fixture, The Penguin, will soon inhabit all of the approximately 4,200-square-feet (sans iconic sign), helmed by Martin Sprock of Big Game Brands, the group behind concepts like the Flying Biscuit Café, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Planet Smoothie. With rapid profit losses, Hagner knew she had to take some steps back in order to take steps forward, so departing from 1531 East Boulevard was the start of her trek onward.

“The only way we were going to survive was to leave the space,” she says.

It’s a move that’s paying off. Hagner is starting to see more and more of her regulars returning, and even some new customers climbing the steps to The Mayobird. “It’s a lot of explaining, which I anticipated, but then ultimately, everybody’s so nice. They say, ‘We’re just so glad you’re still here.’ That’s the biggest compliment we could get.” 

The Mayobird began as a food truck, so food service from a creative space is in her wheelhouse. She originally opened it as a for-profit to support her non-profit, an afterschool program for middle and high school youth in economically depressed areas, Behailu Academy (pronounced “Buh-hi-lou”). As Hagner learned through her work with various Charlotte-based nonprofits, “There isn’t really anything in the afternoon to do in certain areas for some demographics if you aren’t an athlete, but get in trouble,” she says. “Behailu was basically social emotional learning with art as the vehicle.” 

For years, The Mayobird patrons could choose to round up to the nearest dollar when paying their bill as a donation for the non-profit, collectively contributing an average donation of more than $10,000 annually. Hagner is still amazed by the program’s success. “It was literally change for change,” she says. “The most [a donation] could be was 99 cents.”

Unfortunately, Behailu Academy (named after Hagner’s son, whom she adopted from Ethiopia) had to disband during the pandemic, when in-person activities were closing and charitable giving plummeted. While no longer operational, the welfare of children in the foster care system is still a high priority for Hagner. She places the option to donate $1, $3, or $5 to The Foundation for Tomorrow in Tanzania and the Charlotte-based Congregations for Kids right alongside food items in her online menu.   

Despite two of her restaurants having to close due to the pandemic, the closing of Behailu Academy is the most significant loss Hagner feels she’s incurred since March 2020. She acknowledges there have been gains, too. She ordinarily would not have had so much time to deepen the relationship with her son, now a middle schooler, and she recognizes how fortunate she is to have her health, her family, and a business still operational at all.

She even finds it refreshing, at times, to operate from her downsized Dilworth passthrough. With the slower pace and new vantage point, Hagner is better able to take in and really notice her customers’ faces — which happen to include plenty of dogs these days, too. She’s hopeful more and more people will remember, keep up with, and seek out local establishments like hers. 

“Sometimes these long-time restaurants we love that have been around forever and ever and ever have to close because they’ve run their course, but sometimes people forget [about those places] when the newest, biggest, brightest thing comes into town,” she says.

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