After a fire at Mediterranean Deli in Chapel Hill ravaged the restaurant and many local shops around it this weekend, the businesses are assessing the damage and beginning to share plans for reopening.
The fire, which burned for several hours in the 400 block of West Franklin Street, left five businesses affected by either the blaze, smoke, or water from firefighters: Mediterranean Deli, DB Sutton & Company, Moshi Moshi, Simply Audrey, and Tropical Smoothie Cafe. A group of their owners, other business leaders, town officials and the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership met on Sunday to discuss recovery plans for the group moving forward.
While a GoFundMe campaign has been established for employees of Med Deli — which suffered the worst damage — many of the businesses will best recover by reopening to customers.
Below is a list tracking how each of the businesses is responding in the wake of the fire and when they plan to reopen to customers.
Mediterranean Deli, Bakery and Catering
Mediterranean Deli is a restaurant, market and bakery known for its wide variety of Middle Eastern specialities and vegetarian, gluten free, organic and vegan offerings. Owned by Jamil Kadoura, it opened in 1992 and quickly became a local favorite, especially with its catering services.
The fire damaged Med Deli the most of the local businesses, as firefighters were seen spraying water onto its roof for hours trying to contain flames to one location. As a result, the damage is extensive and Med Deli’s closure is expected to last months.
The restaurant shared a message on its website Monday to its customers and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community about the fire:
Dear loving community,
It is with a heavy heart that we must share the unfortunate and devastating news of our beloved establishment, Mediterranean Deli that was burned. We are very sad to share this news although everyone is okay.
We want to thank the Chapel Hill Police and Fire Departments for their help and continued support.
To our customers, we love you and are so thankful for the kind words, prayers and thoughts from the community.
We will keep everyone updated regarding the future of Med Deli at the appropriate time. We ask to please respect the family’s privacy.
There has been a go fund me set up by a local citizen that has fully passed on the account to us. This go fund me is strictly to help our employees during this hard time.
The GoFundMe campaign was also endorsed and confirmed by the town and other local business leaders as a way to help Med Deli’s employees while the business is closed. In the span of just 48 hours, it raised nearly $129,000.
Mediterranean Deli said it will restart its catering operations from a different facility on Monday, July 31. The business said anyone who had outstanding catering orders is encouraged to email catering@mediterraneandeli.com with contact information and the date of your event, because many of their physical files of catering requests were lost in the fire.
Photo via David Hunt.
DB Sutton & Company
DB Sutton & Company is a hair salon and wine shop, which opened next door to Med Deli in 1999.
The local business held a wine sale on Sunday to sell off its current inventory and said it is continuing to take limited amounts of orders from Monday onward. The salon, however, remains closed and said on Instagram it could take around a week to reopen.
David Sutton, the owner, posted a video on the business’ page Monday afternoon thanking the community for its support.
Photo via David Hunt.
Moshi Moshi
Moshi Moshi is a salon that describes itself as “forward-thinking, inclusive, open, happy, invested, and grounded,” among other things. Having first opened in 2002, it neighbors Mediterranean Deli on the left side. According to its website, the salon suffered largely cosmetic damage from the fire and response.
On Monday, Moshi Moshi posted that it will be closed for extensive cleaning and repairs with a target of reopening with “shiny and new” looks in the upcoming month.
The salon said its stylists will be working at its Durham location on East Main Street and will honor any upcoming appointments that were made at the Chapel Hill shop. Moshi Moshi also asked customers who are cancelling their appointments to put themselves on the cancellation list, which helps clarify what staff will be available for customers. It also said purchasing products, which they’re selling at a discounted rate, is another way to help in the short-term.
Photo via Simply Audrey.
Simply Audrey
Simply Audrey is a women’s fashion boutique shop that shares an address with DB Sutton & Company. The store is owned by Karen Cunningham and began with doing pop-up shops in the West Franklin Street storefront in 2019 before becoming a more permanent fixture.
The shop posted an update to its Instagram and Facebook pages on Monday, saying that it suffered a full loss of inventory and will need time before sharing a plan for reopening.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe
Tropical Smoothie Cafe, which is two doors down from Mediterranean Deli to its right, opened in recent years as the nationwide chain’s first expansion to Chapel Hill.
The franchise on West Franklin Street told Chapelboro it is expected to reopen to customers on Wednesday, July 26.
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