Pandemic Closes K&W Southern Cafeteria

[mso489]

A friend informed me via email today that our faithful ever present K&W Cafeteria in Raleigh N.C. in Cameron Village Shopping Center has permanently closed. Personally, this is tough, but it has a broader impact on its dozens of employees who kept it going over 70 years, many of them showing up for their first jobs and staying. Likewise, the clientele has always been a wonderful cross section from wage workers and retirees of all backgrounds to handsome well-dressed family groups and professional people, all merged as one community. It held to the Southern genre of a local place where people could gather and feel at home. Fully ethnically integrated I add. It's Thanksgiving Day specials were a city tradition with a highly festive feel at a remarkably low cost per meal. Everyone was welcome. When I remarried as a widower in my mid-sixties, my bride was a food writer re-locating from working in Manhattan and on Long Island, and she chose them as a caterer for our wedding for their true Southern food and high standards, and they did a wonderful job. I'm sure most other customers have similar personal stories. This is not the first cafeteria that has gone down. Years ago, another cafeteria nearby that had been a gathering place for state legislators and university students alike closed, and the crowds lined up for weeks in tribute and mourning. And way back when I was in the Navy, serving my last 8 months in the Milwaukee recruiting station and living in a shambling old hotel downtown, the wonderful city cafeteria in the North, meeting place for another cross section of citizenry, closed after decades when the rent went up. Especially the old folks were in despair. No one could invent these community centers; they must start with the food, and the people come. They did come. I salute the K&W and all of its kind, and all of its kind from the past. What a kindness to humanity, and what a kindness to be lost. We have our K&W anniversary mugs to remember it by. My wife says she will bake a K&W version of a coconut cream pie to catch our tears. As a former restaurant reviewer, she takes these loses seriously.

 

[BROBS]

A friend informed me via email today that our faithful ever present K&W Cafeteria in Raleigh N.C. in Cameron Village Shopping Center has permanently closed. Personally, this is tough, but it has a broader impact on its dozens of employees who kept it going over 70 years, many of them showing up for their first jobs and staying. Likewise, the clientele has always been a wonderful cross section from wage workers and retirees of all backgrounds to handsome well-dressed family groups and professional people, all merged as one community. It held to the Southern genre of a local place where people could gather and feel at home. Fully ethnically integrated I add. It's Thanksgiving Day specials were a city tradition with a highly festive feel at a remarkably low cost per meal. Everyone was welcome. When I remarried as a widower in my mid-sixties, my bride was a food writer re-locating from working in Manhattan and on Long Island, and she chose them as a caterer for our wedding for their true Southern food and high standards, and they did a wonderful job. I'm sure most other customers have similar personal stories. This is not the first cafeteria that has gone down. Years ago, another cafeteria nearby that had been a gathering place for state legislators and university students alike closed, and the crowds lined up for weeks in tribute and mourning. And way back when I was in the Navy, serving my last 8 months in the Milwaukee recruiting station and living in a shambling old hotel downtown, the wonderful city cafeteria in the North, meeting place for another cross section of citizenry, closed after decades when the rent went up. Especially the old folks were in despair. No one could invent these community centers; they must start with the food, and the people come. They did come. I salute the K&W and all of its kind, and all of its kind from the past. What a kindness to humanity, and what a kindness to be lost. We have our K&W anniversary mugs to remember it by. My wife says she will bake a K&W version of a coconut cream pie to catch our tears. As a former restaurant reviewer, she takes these loses seriously.

Sounds like my Grandpa's lament with Bishop's Buffet closed!

They can't keep up with rising food costs.. and with the pandemic now, who will eat in a place like that with food sitting out in the open?

 

[verporchting]

I suspect the pandemic and resulting carnage to the business sector will have lasting impact on our society.

Much of what used to be normal is likely dead and gone and the rest will change to accommodate the new normal.

So many business models were outdated or struggling with the current economic realities anyway and this downturn was the last straw.

I hate it and so many things that were important to me have disappeared but it is what it is and to be honest I suspected change was inevitable. The shutdown just accelerated what was probably going to happen anyway.

Still sucks. And some perfectly fine businesses just got hosed and but for the sudden downturn would have remained viable and profitable operations. Those cases are particularly hateful and sad.

 

[BROBS]

I suspect the pandemic and resulting carnage to the business sector will have lasting impact on our society.

Much of what used to be normal is likely dead and gone and the rest will change to accommodate the new normal.

So many business models were outdated or struggling with the current economic realities anyway and this downturn was the last straw.

I hate it and so many things that were important to me have disappeared but it is what it is and to be honest I suspected change was inevitable. The shutdown just accelerated what was probably going to happen anyway.

Still sucks. And some perfectly fine businesses just got hosed and but for the sudden downturn would have remained viable and profitable operations. Those cases are particularly hateful and sad.

well put..
the model of a "down home cafeteria" is so outdated today it just can't survive.
Think of all the wasted food! And with the cost of meat today etc it's a death sentence to these places.

But you're right.. some of these businesses were barely hanging on, or should have closed a long time ago. Others truly would have survived and thrived had it not been for the current events. And you're right.. those are the truly, truly sad ones. IE: a business that just opened and couldn't survive.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

It killed the chinese buffets, and possibly the strip clubs. The American dream is dying...

 

[Old School 3319]

I hate the phrase "the new normal". I was a hermit before this pandemic and it is now easier for me to be. But i also feel bad for all those who are struggling

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I hate the phrase "the new normal". I was a hermit before this pandemic and it is now easier for me to be. But i also feel bad for all those who are struggling

Same for us.. We did used to get out for restaurants, though. This kind of shit is going to make hermits out of everyone.

 

[Old School 3319]

Same for us.. We did used to get out for restaurants, though. This kind of shit is going to make hermits out of everyone.

We might have gone out a couple times per year usually for one of the kids birthday.

 

[mso489]

Not restaurant or cafeteria related, but there was a good article in the NYTimes business section yesterday about re-purposing malls, primarily as office space at this point, but perhaps something else if working at home becomes common after a vaccine. Some people call working at home living at work. Likewise, hotels are being considered and in some cases refitted as long term assisted care facilities. The malls were in steep decline before the pandemic because of online shopping. What's the Yeats line ...something like ... all is changed, changed utterly. A co-op and friends do a lot of our shopping now. I miss being able to eyeball the produce and compare prices. I kind of prided myself on being a careful and thrifty shopper, but now we're just glad to get what we need, a few bucks either way. The main thing is that malls and other retail not become long-term ghost towns or giant crack houses, etc.

 

[LOREN]

It killed the chinese buffets, and possibly the strip clubs. The American dream is dying...

closed down strip clubs ?.....nooooooooooooo!

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

closed down strip clubs ?.....nooooooooooooo!

massage parlors too. ?

 

[LOREN]

massage parlors too. ?

stop! you're killing me! ?

 

[mso489]

Actual massage therapy too. No more getting my arthritic joints aligned from time to time. A friend took some household scissors and trimmed my hair, and it is a great relief not to look like Ben Gunn (the Robinson Crusoe character addled by years of living alone on the island). All I need is to keep my hair off my shoulders, nothing styled. Maybe I should get some drugstore barber shears. Some day I may go back to Great Clips, and they'll make me look like someone out of "Mad Men." I won't know myself in the mirror.

 

[LOREN]

Actual massage therapy too. No more getting my arthritic joints aligned from time to time. A friend took some household scissors and trimmed my hair, and it is a great relief not to look like Ben Gunn (the Robinson Crusoe character addled by years of living alone on the island). All I need is to keep my hair off my shoulders, nothing styled. Maybe I should get some drugstore barber shears.

My wife bought the electric clippers. It's really good if you don't mind a plain old short haircut. I'll stick with these even after the pandemic troubles. ?

 

[mso489]

If we all figure out how to keep our hair groomed at home, that's a large portion of an industry gone. Unsuspected consequences. I was already on a two or three times a year schedule at a low-price chain. And now?

 

[mso489]

Back to the closed cafeteria discussion, funny the way charities set up senior and community centers that forever have a downtrodden saddened atmosphere. Even if the food is tasty and the staff is cheerful, it's more like a shelter, so even the clients feel like they are doing charity work just to be there. Whereas actual self-sustaining businesses have an upbeat and enthusiastic atmosphere that brings in all kinds of customers, but that are eventually not sustained. Propping up failing businesses isn't the answer, but neither is sliding everything into the charity work category. The cafeteria that closed was notable for being multigenerational, from those using to walkers to those in high chairs and everyone in between. And, noteworthy, nearly everyone in substantial appetite.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Actual massage therapy too. No more getting my arthritic joints aligned from time to time. A friend took some household scissors and trimmed my hair, and it is a great relief not to look like Ben Gunn (the Robinson Crusoe character addled by years of living alone on the island). All I need is to keep my hair off my shoulders, nothing styled. Maybe I should get some drugstore barber shears. Some day I may go back to Great Clips, and they'll make me look like someone out of "Mad Men." I won't know myself in the mirror.

We really have to take a look at what we all consider essential, moving forward. I was kidding around about the strip clubs.. but many leisure activities are seriously restricted.. Those are, in a way essential.

 

[olkofri]

I hate the phrase "the new normal". I was a hermit before this pandemic and it is now easier for me to be. But i also feel bad for all those who are struggling

It's a hateful phrase, yes. But not as ominous as 'the Great Reset' which is what they were planning on doing and are effectively carrying out as we post.

 

[LOREN]

It's a hateful phrase, yes. But not as ominous as 'the Great Reset' which is what they were planning on doing and are effectively carrying out as we post.

I'm not sure what 'the Great Reset' is.

 

[LOREN]

If we all figure out how to keep our hair groomed at home, that's a large portion of an industry gone. Unsuspected consequences. I was already on a two or three times a year schedule at a low-price chain. And now?

True.