‘Just payin’ the bills, baby’: York County restaurants fight on after SC dine-in shutdown
Rain, snow, and calamity could not close the dining room doors at Red’s Grill restaurant in Rock Hill over the past 72 years. But the South Carolina government, and the coronavirus, forced the doors to be locked Wednesday at a place that first opened in 1948.
On Tuesday, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster ordered all dining rooms at South Carolina restaurants to close because of Covid-19 concerns. There is no certainty when in-house dining will return
Red’s owner Sabrina Brazzill and her staff handled customers Wednesday through the drive-thru window at the place with the sign that bills the East Main Street diner as Rock Hill’s oldest continuously operating restaurant.
“I’m feeding ‘em breakfast and lunch through the window here,” Brazzill said. “My regulars, they want to come in and eat, but they can’t. They are still here hungry, thank God, but they can’t come in.”
Brazzill owns a one-site operation with employees who depend on tips and a busy counter and tables to make a buck. With no dining room, making a living is much harder, Brazzill said.
“I’m just payin’ the bills, baby,” Brazzill said Wednesday.
Brazzill said she plans to tough out the dining room ban and stay open. So does Danny Holmes, owner of the Towne Tavern restaurants. Holmes has four locations and 172 employees at locations in Fort Mill, Rock Hill, and Indian Land in Lancaster County.
Holmes said he plans to keep all the employees on staff and pay them enough that they can get by.
The restaurants offered curb service Wednesday and will continue to offer pick-up for customers, Holmes said. The restaurants also use delivery services online.
All restaurants in the state are in the same predicament with the dining ban, Holmes said.
“The uncertainty is the most unnerving, because I can’t tell my employees if it will be 14 days, or 21 days, or any number,” Holmes said.
Holmes said he has built a business reputation over almost two decades of customer service that includes handshakes and hugs and thank yous -- the personal touches. For now, the interaction with customers is drop-off outside, Holmes said.
Holmes said he appreciates customers remaining loyal, and he will return that loyalty by staying open and employing people.
“I just hope at the end of this when we get the green light, I still have 172 people here working,” Holmes said.
At the Chicken King Restaurant on Rock Hill’s West Main Street at Cherry Road, manager Sarah Catterson said the restaurant is seeing far more Uber Eats and other online delivery services. The coronavirus scare has slowed walk-in business after business had been picking up before the pandemic, Catterson said.
Catterson said the business, which also has a Lancaster location and others in North Carolina, remains open for take-out and delivery service.
“We are taking extra measures to keep the employees and customers safe,” Catterson said.
Rob Youngblood, president of the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged that coronavirus restrictions are going to be tough on small businesses that include restaurants. The chamber represents almost 900 area businesses.
“We want to help our businesses all we can, “ Youngblood said. “But there is some pain, and some angst.”
Youngblood said the chamber is working on a plan for the business community as coronavirus concerns affect the economy, and urged the public to continue to shop and spend locally.
“This is having a huge economic impact on all of us,” Youngblood said.
