In light of recent coronavirus outbreaks across campus and the community, UNC moved to a remote learning model on Wednesday.

This move occurred just ten days after the university began classes for its fall semester and will continue indefinitely.

With most of campus closed, and the majority of residence halls being emptied, the number of patrons on Franklin Street is expected to decrease – so what will happen to all the businesses that heavily rely on students to break even?


Kristian Bawcom is the Owner of Four Corners.

Bawcom said while he understands UNC’s decision to go remote, it’s a hard truth to accept for businesses who saw students returning as a beacon of hope.

“You’re kind of hoping that you see an increase in business, and then you do see one, and then they take it away,” Bawcom said. “Again, at the end of the day, you kind of understand why they’re doing it and it’s 100 percent for safety purposes – but again you’re just kind of hoping now that it doesn’t hurt too much. Expectations I think for everyone on Franklin Street now are pretty dismal.”

He said not only is Four Corner’s business model heavily relies on students, but also UNC Athletics – which doesn’t help with the fear and uncertainty.

“Our business model is really dependent on sports,” Bawcom said. “You know football, basketball, baseball, tennis [games] – and so we are hanging on the hopes that we get a football season in because that would cause foot traffic on Franklin Street.”

Even if certain sports do return, Bawcom said that may not make the biggest difference – as restaurant goers won’t really start to come back until they truly feel safe. He estimates that may be nine months to a year from now.

Bret Oliverio is the Owner of Sup Dogs.

Oliverio said, right now, he thinks it’s nearly impossible for a restaurant or local business to make any money on Franklin Street, even if UNC’s campus had stayed open.

“So whatever is safest for our community, safest for our staff, safest for Franklin Street and the university, I fully support,” Oliverio said.

For now, he is solely thinking about keeping his staff paid and surviving the next few months on what he has managed to save in the past.

“It’s just an incredibly challenging time, but on a positive note, I think if a restaurant or retail business can overcome this and survive and adapt and find ourselves on the other side, I don’t think anything is stopping that restaurant or business,” Oliverio said. “I think this is the ultimate test of a business – and if we can survive the next four to six months, then we should be okay going forward because what could be worse than a pandemic to a restaurant – especially one located in a college town.”

As he bunkers down to wait out the coming months, Oliverio said he is thankful for every customer that will walk through Sup Dog’s doors now and in the future.

Christopher Carini is the Owner of Linda’s Bar & Grill.

Carini says restaurants like Linda’s operate on razor-thin profits even during the best of times, let alone when 90 percent of their sales have been decimated – which is one of the reasons Carini decided not to open his restaurant for dine-in services.

“Linda’s clientele during lunchtime is usually students and local professionals and town regulars,” Carini says. “Many of those people are now working from home, or not in town, or staying home because [of COVID-19], that there’s just no one out to eat. So opening the doors would incur a lot more costs because we’d have to clean more, we’d have to spend more money on staffing but we wouldn’t really do that much more business.”

While he says he thinks Linda’s will make it through the pandemic just fine, Carini has had to make some tough decisions along the way – whether it’s deciding to remain closed for indoor dining or figuring out ‘what’s next’ after pouring your heart into a business.

“I’ve been running Linda’s for 10 years and I have, to the bone, every day, worked, worked, worked because that’s what it takes to be successful in the restaurant business,” Carini says. “It feels like maybe people are starting to understand the strife that we go through just to make sure that everyone can go out and have a good time.”

Carini said there will come a time where he has to decide whether to stay open and potentially go out of business or shut down completely and wait it out until they can reopen under normal conditions.

Jamil Kadoura is the Owner of Mediterranean Deli.

While Kadoura understands and agrees with UNC’s decision to prioritize safety, he said having the majority of students leave the campus area is one of the worst things that could happen for Franklin Street businesses.

“We we’re excited to see them [students] start coming back,” Kadoura said. “We felt like we would see a little business where we can at least break even and now with them going back, this is really worrisome. This is worse than we thought. When I found out about that a couple days ago, it was like somebody hit me in my stomach.”

He said now that UNC’s decision is set in stone, it’s not about the money, but rather about taking care of his employees – who he describes as the “heart” of Med Deli.

“We have employees that have been here for 18, 19 years,” Kadoura said. “Our average employee has been here for around 10 years. You know you’re not going to make money this year – it’s over. What we need to worry about now is our employees.”

Even though their catering business, which makes up half of their profits, is currently on hold, out of the 96 people Med Deli previously employed, Kadoura said they managed to keep 60 of them.

Kadoura credits most of this success to his biggest supporter: the Chapel Hill community – to which he is incredibly grateful.

“I just don’t believe there is a community like our community – I really don’t,” Kadoura said. “When I die, I want to go to a place like Chapel Hill – I swear I do.”

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