As businesses were forced to close their doors to customers last month, some Cherokee County business owners found new and unique ways to continue to serve their customers by giving them ways to bring home supplies and do some of the work themselves.
For Thea Butler, it started as a matter of necessity. Her business, Chevelles Restaurant & Bar in Murphy, had food that would go bad if she didn’t find a way other than take-out to get it to customers when restaurants were ordered to close for dine-in customers on March 17. So she started selling some of the food the restaurant had as groceries.
“That has been great,” Butler said.
She didn’t realize how much it would help people access groceries until customers told her they appreciated it.
“That makes you feel good about it,” Butler said. “That makes it worthwhile.”
Last week, she started another service. The restaurant also has meal kits, complete with instructions, so families can make a full meal at home. The restaurant even provided an Easter dinner kit – something new, since they’ve only served Easter brunch in the past.
At Hoppy Trout Brewing Co. in Andrews, owner Tommy Rodeck also added a kit to his menu – Take & Bake pizza. His food representative, Scott Gilstrap from Reinhart Food Service Works, suggested the idea to him after learning other restaurants that serve pizza were doing it.
“I just rolled with it,” Rodeck said. “It’s a hit.”
The kits come in a pizza box and include dough, plus all the toppings the family selects. Purchases are made online to reduce contact.
Rodeck said he’s still selling more of the restaurant’s usual brick-oven pizza for take-out, but he’s enjoyed seeing families share their pizza creations on social media. He plans to make the kits a permanent menu item.
A local hair salon has also found a way to provide a service in a take-home kit. Bella Color Studio in Murphy started providing hair color touch-up kits for customers.
“We miss what we do, and we would much rather be at work,” stylist Brandi Guli said. “But this is more of a courtesy to our customers ... We wanted to offer them something without damaging their hair.”
She’s also hoping that selling the kits will bring in enough money to keep the power on.
Each kit is customized to the client and her hair. The kits have about a half ounce of the client’s specific color, half ounce of developer, gloves, an applicator brush and directions. Guli has all the supplies at her house – which is just down the road from the salon – so she can prepare the kits and safely give them to clients.
While many clients got touch-ups in before salons closed at 5 p.m. March 25, she thinks more people will take advantage of the service as time goes on, especially since some have already said they’ll be interested once they need it.