FORT MILL, S.C. — A year-and-a-half into the COVID-19 pandemic, industries are still trying to economically recover.
Things are improving, but the U.S. economy remains 5.3 million jobs short of where it stood when COVID-19 hit, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The service industry remains one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. While some restaurants are closing shop citing a labor shortage, others are finding ways to make it work, and some are even thriving.
Z Bakery in Fort Mill, South Carolina, has been in business for six years. Like many businesses, it has faced its challenges during the pandemic, but it has also adapted.
“We definitely made a lot of changes,” owner Kristen Zimmerman said. “We didn’t have a backyard. We didn’t have any tables up front, so we were mainly in-house dining.”
In addition to adding outdoor dining, Z Bakery also revved up its takeout orders.
The results have been successful. Zimmerman has doubled her staff, but she also credits the success to the Town of Fort Mill and its loyal customers.
“I do know that Fort Mill is probably the best community to be in when people are struggling because nobody wants to see any of these businesses go out of business,” Zimmerman said.
That strong town support is even bringing in new businesses.
Vito’s Pizza was a food truck for nine years serving the Charlotte, North Carolina, area. The owner, Jonathan Neighbors, is opening the restaurant's first brick-and-mortar location in Fort Mill just east of Interstate 77 and north of North White Street.
“As far as growth, Fort Mill is doing really, really well,” Neighbors, who lives in Fort Mill, said. While operating the pizzeria's food truck, he also served many of the neighborhoods in Fort Mill.
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Neighbors admits it takes nerve to open a new restaurant during a pandemic, but he also believes in the community and in his product – a New York-style pizza he’s been cooking since he was 13 years old at his family’s restaurant on Long Island.
Neighbors credits the quality of the ingredients they cook with, using thick pizza stones and perfecting his New York cooking process.
“We’ve been using the same ingredients since the 1990s," Neighbors said.
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