When Hurricane Helene tore through the Upstate Sept. 27, Greenville’s restaurant community was not immune to damage.
Coolers and freezers across the region filled with food were suddenly confronted with a ticking clock due to widespread power outages.
Posts flooded social media with amended hours and menus. Some announced indefinite closure. Others managed to band together for hastily-arranged community cookouts.
Downtown Greenville açaí and coffee shop Uki Bowlz, located at 3 E. Park Ave., managed to stay open. Owner Camila Franco said the donation of a generator kept the fruit and base supply cold until Sunday, when her uncle dropped off another.
“Man, it takes a village,” Franco said on Oct. 1.
Friends have volunteered to run orders for the business but it has been a struggle to operate on limited power supply.
“When someone orders a smoothie … we have to unplug our toasters and plug in our blenders, and we’ve been sweating,” Franco said.
Community cookouts
Curean lost power on South Main Street but was able to save most of its food with the help of the community.
A member of her staff found a generator. Carlos Lara, maintenance manager at nearby apartment complex The McLaren, offered the use of refrigerators in open units to owner Vickie Zambrano.
Still without power on Sept. 28, Curean held a cookout.
“In my heart, I cannot just throw food away. There’s no way we’re doing that,” Zambrano said. “I was like, ‘I’m sure there’s people that need the food also, so let’s just give it away and just cook it off.'”
The cookouts were a trend. Throughout the week, other restaurants hosted free events to mitigate the loss of product and help the community.
Village of West Greenville restaurant The Anchorage held a free lunch Sept. 30, serving rabbit agnolotti with wild rabe chimichurri, jambalaya and confit duck.
Around the same time that day, Franco donated a bag of charcoal to Comal 864, allowing for the business to hold a cookout at its location on Woodside Avenue. Comal held another cookout Oct. 1, where Zambrano volunteered.
“I think everyone’s been kind of helping each other out,” Zambrano said.
Finding ways to help
Scouts Doughnuts still did not have power at its flagship location in the Overbrook neighborhood as of Oct. 1. According to assistant manager, Lauren Brown, the business has lost a lot of supply.
“Our freezers and fridges all got wiped out, so we saved what we could,” Brown said while standing in front Scouts’ recently-opened downtown Greenville window filled with doughnuts made quickly.
She said the staff will have to pull long shifts to bring the supply back up. Meanwhile, Scout’s is offering responder boxes, which gives customers a chance to donate a half-dozen or baker’s dozen to emergency responders.
Even a brief closure can be devastating for eateries. West Greenville’s Unlocked Coffee Roasters has been closed since Sept. 27 due to power outages. Owner Andres Camargo emphasized the importance of shopping local – now more than ever.
“Visit us to do meetings or just say hello, that will be a big encouragement,” Camargo said. “The first days after reopening are usually the hardest and it’s easy to feel down since we are open to see people walking in.”
