GREENSBORO, N.C. — Many restaurants took a hit starting in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Now that vaccines rolled out and the positivity rate has dropped lower, some restaurant business owners are feeling better about expansion.
WFMY News 2 spoke with the owner of Wicked Taco who looks forward to expanding his business into Greensboro. The new location will have a sports bar feel and it's going to be rebranded to be called 'Wicked Burger, Taco and Brews.' Owner, Jeff Lord, said plans for the new location started before COVID, but when the pandemic hit those plans came to a halt.
He said a year and a half later, investors advised him to start working to get the new location going. He said the new spot will include ax throwing and 16 TVs. While he said he's excited, he's also moving with caution. They're designing the restaurant in a way that will help fight the spread of the virus.
"We're doing some things here since we're in the middle of construction, to kind of build with a semi-social distancing, 6-ft with some glass and stuff. Instead of just making it feel closed in, we put a filtration system on the HVA system to kind of sanitize the air. It's ultra-violent. It's been proven to kill viruses as well as COVID," said Lord.
He said he hopes to have the restaurant open by mid-December.
President/CEO of Downtown Greensboro Incorporated, Zack Matheny, said Greensboro is in a good position for new businesses to come into the city, especially with the holiday season approaching.
"There's a lot of activity. Folks are looking at staying open later hours, the Tanger Center has certainly brought a lot of foot traffic downtown and so you're seeing some needs and it's exciting," said Matheny.
He said with all of the new restaurants and retail shops coming into Greensboro it's a great time for folks to reacquaint themselves with the city. Radici, a vegan Italian restaurant, and Seafood Destiny are also two new restaurant businesses added to Greensboro.