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Business of Life
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RESTAURANT ROUNDUP
BUSINESS OF LIFE
This is a sampling of stories from the Business Journal’s weekly Restaurant Roundup email. Subscribe at wilmingtonbiz.com. Dean Neff’s Seabird opens in downtown Wilmington
Chef Dean Neff recently opened his new restaurant, Seabird, in downtown Wilmington.
At the corner of Front and Market streets, Seabird began in the fall of 2019 when Neff leased the ground floor of 1 S. Front St., a building owned by developer James Goodnight.
From the start, Neff had a wish list for the layout of the restaurant: an open kitchen, a chef’s table, a separate bar area and a private dining room.
It was Neff’s intention from the start to create a restaurant that would be open all day, not just for dinner. To start, Seabird will offer a coffee program featuring Counter Culture Coffee, eventually incorporating a small breakfast menu, followed by lunch and perhaps a latenight menu as well.
Seabird’s menu will primarily be an homage to seasonal seafood.
The opening menu offered both baked and raw North Carolina oysters, including a Stone’s Bay oyster from Neff’s friend Matt Schwab of Hold Fast Oyster Co., which will be exclusive to Seabird.
One of Neff’s personal favorites, the catfish and oyster pie, was inspired by a trip to London.
“One of the things I really enjoy about cooking is finding concepts from different places or times and adjusting them according to seasonality and place,” Neff said. Local favorite restaurant gets new name, menu
A longtime favorite restaurant for fresh seafood, Boca Bay has been rebranded by Urban Food Group as Soundside Seafood & Raw Bar.
Kevin Jennings, who owns Urban Food Group with his wife, Stacey, said they have thought about changing the name of the restaurant for some time now. The Raleigh-based company purchased Boca Bay, as well as Brasserie du Soleil and Osteria Cicchetti, from Circa Restaurant Group in January 2019.
The restaurant reopened to the public recently, having undergone what Kevin Jennings described as a significant refresh. He said the menu at Soundside will include several Boca Bay favorites, as well as new items, with a focus on locally sourced seafood.
Detour Deli & Cafe comes to the end of the road
Detour Deli & Cafe owner Allister Snyder has closed the doors to the sandwich shop after about six years in business.
The announcement made via Facebook recently was met with great sadness by many of the deli’s loyal customers.
“I have some sad news, Detour Deli is closing its doors,” the announcement stated. “Shane, who has been with us since nearly the beginning, has decided to move on. We could hire and train new people, but I have had the desire to do something new myself and don’t want hire with the intention of it being only temporarily. We made it through the last year, because of everyone that has supported us and we are extremely grateful. Thank you! If there are any updates we will post them on our social media sites. Thanks, again, it has been a great pleasure serving everyone!”
The deli, located on the north side of the Brooklyn Arts District at 510½ Red Cross St., was a favorite of many in the area for its hearty gourmet sandwiches, which included everything from clubs to hoagies, tortas and po’boys. Shug’s Sweet Shoppe sweetens Monkey Junction
Scott and Josh Williams, the father-and-son owners of Cape Fear Restaurant Equipment, both have a self-described sweet tooth, leading them to their latest family venture, Shug’s Sweet Shoppe, which opened in April in Monkey Junction.
Growing up, Scott Williams always called his sister Monica “Shug” and he wanted to honor her in the naming of the shop. Police Lt. Monica Carey of Clayton was killed in the line of duty in 2001.
“‘Hey Shug’ is just a friendly, hospitable Southern greeting,” Scott Williams said.
Shug’s main focus will be filled croissants, a baked good that has seen a rise in popularity in recent years.
The shop will also carry cinnamon rolls, brownies, cookies, muffins and cakes, as well as sugar-free, gluten-free and keto options. -Jessica Maurer
| BUSINESS OF LIFE |
Wilson Center springs back to life
BY LAURA MOORE
More than a year after closing its doors to the public due to a worldwide pandemic, Cape Fear Community College’s Wilson Center welcomed guests back for a performance last month.
“The energy was amazing. It was electric. There was just so much joy, with everyone just so happy walking in and getting to see a performance,” Shane Fernando, CFCC’s vice president of advancement and the arts, said. “The enthusiasm, if you closed your eyes, you would think it was a full house. The spirit of the house was remarkable.”
Opera House Theatre Co. performed for a socially-distanced 393 people in the 1,500-plus capacity venue. Working with smaller community theater organizations allows the Wilson Center to invite the public in for events while adhering to the guidelines set forth by the CDC and state mandates.
“It is tiny for us, and not viable for a touring program, but quite viable for a community organization such as Opera House where we are able to get an audience to the scale they are used to doing and we are able to provide it safely,” Fernando said.
Roughly 25 percent of its capacity is currently available for ticketing. Seating is set up in pods based on historical data of traditional sales.
Fernando said that the venue was forced to let go close to 200 staff members when it shut down last year, so these smaller events allow for staff members to slowly come back on board.
The impacts of the theater industry are wide and far-reaching. From cobblers to tailors to dry cleaners to restaurant owners, many business owners feel the effects when a theater is closed.
“From tiny to large-scale venues, theaters have a huge impact on their communities. Sadly, we are the first to shut down and the last to open, and there are so many businesses that we affect and a wide variety of vendors,” Fernando said. “So many folks with so many small businesses are ready for us to be back.”
The Wilson Center celebrated its five-year anniversary while closed for the pandemic in October, but it provided an opportunity to re-evaluate its operations, Fernando said.
“We took the time to look at our staffing model, our organizational model and our program model based on the five years of data we had available,” he said.
Considering it “almost doubled its revenue each year,” the economic impact on the tourism industry is obvious.
In its first year alone, 30,000 people from out of town came to see shows at the Wilson Center, Fernando said.
“It is a ripple effect of empty seats at this facility. This is a revenue stream for these businesses, and the effect is palpable,” he said. “A handful of businesses shut down because we weren’t open. They told me that.”
That is a responsibility Fernando said he does not take lightly as he works to take the necessary steps to have touring theater companies make their return to the Wilson Center.
Roughly 60 shows from national touring companies had to be rescheduled and are currently awaiting dates. Only a few shows were lost altogether, including Broadway touring companies that “collapsed” due to the pandemic shutdowns.
Managing the rescheduling of these tours has been “a weird type of game since it is every story of venues across the world,” Fernando said. Rescheduled dates have been the safety net of theaters across the country, “but it’s like a Rubik’s Cube” in terms of the complexity of finding dates that work with events for touring companies that are managing rescheduling with venues all throughout the United States.
“On a good year, it’s complicated enough in terms of finding a date, but now it is 10 times more complex,” Fernando said.
The target date for full reopening is late fall.
“The shows are not canceled. We are in the process of rescheduling them, and the show will still happen. It is on our books. Your seat is still good. Your ticket is still good. Once we can safely get the tour here, the show will still happen,” Fernando said.
Backstage protocols are even more complicated than public areas in terms of managing crews and performers, many of whom are working in close quarters, said Fernando, who added, “We are extra cautious of who works where.”
The conversation of safety protocols is still happening at a national level, and guidelines are still being prepared.
“We are doing everything and the kitchen sink,” Fernando said. “The priority is how we continue the mission of the department of this college and continue to find ways to bring in revenue, which means rethinking everything we do.”
Currently, the center is following CDC and state guidelines of social distancing, capacity limitations and sanitation procedures; in addition, its ventilation system ensures safe air flow.
“We are blessed at this facility that our air handling exceeds what is recommended for indoor ventilation, so we are in a good place there as far as the quality of air moving in and out,” Fernando said.
He said he wants the public to feel comfortable knowing they are doing everything to keep the community healthy and confident.
“The protocols are in place. When you are comfortable coming back, we’re ready to keep you safe,” Fernando said. “It’s on us to move forward.”
PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER Turning the lights back on: Shane Fernando, CFCC’s vice president of advancement and the arts, says the Wilson Center venue is slowly reopening with small events, with the goal of a full reopening this fall.
