Belinda Barber walked out of the K&W Cafeteria in the Bordeaux Shopping Center one more time with family and friends before heading back to her Gates Four neighborhood home.
It’s the restaurant that’s been a staple in Fayetteville dating back to 1973.
“It’s sad,” Barber, 64, said Monday on what would be the eve of the last day of business before the cafeteria would close and cease operating in Fayetteville.
Lora Walters dined earlier at the popular cafeteria along with her two young sons and her mother.
“This is basically three generations,” Walters, 43, said. “I hate to see it go. We used to go when it was across the street” along Village Drive. “It’s been here my whole life.”
She, like other customers, gave thought to the turkey and dressing, with cranberries. The fried okra and the “mac and cheese,” too.
Her mother, Donna Williams, had her memories.
“I would get the grilled chicken and onions,” Williams said. “I loved the turkey and dressing. I loved their mac and cheese, and fried okra. Their potatoes and green beans.”
Williams always liked the German chocolate cake for dessert.
“They didn’t have any today,” Williams said, “so I got the coconut pie.”
Walters remembered the egg custard pie.
Caleb Walters and younger brother, Christian, don’t have an appreciation for the cafeteria’s history, but they surely appreciated Monday’s supper before heading off to the movies with their mother.
“I ate the baked spaghetti,” Christian, 10, said, “with cornbread.”
Caleb, 14, had the fried pork chop, with rice and gravy, he said, “and coconut cream pie.”
Now, it was off to the movie house across town.
“This is my last time here,” Lora Walters said.
She’ll miss the cafeteria.
“I’m going to miss bringing my kids,” she said.
The Rev. Keith Smith, 75, came Monday with his daughter, Erica Wilson, granddaughter Viviann, 15, and grandson Luke, 12.
“I started eating here when it was across the street,” he said about the Village Drive location from 1986 until moving to the shopping center. “My favorite was the country-style steak and mashed potatoes.”
He has something of a sweet tooth. The strawberry shortcake or the egg custard always caught his eyes or the lemon meringue pie.
“Tonight, I had the baked chicken, cabbage, cornbread and a little piece of cake,” Smith said. “I’m really going to miss this place. It’s a part of my routine. I’ll miss the country-style food. I was raised on country vegetables, and everything here was made from scratch.”
And, Smith said, he’ll miss the managers, cooks and waitresses.
“I know about every waitress,” he said, including “Ms. Susie,” who was once his student when Smith was a professor at Fayetteville Technical Community College.
April 18, 2018-March 25, 2025
Susie Sosa has worked at the cafeteria for eight years. She smiled through tears Monday in anticipation of the cafeteria’s final day Tuesday, when James Gibson, the restaurant’s co-manager, said the cafeteria would be open from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. or whenever the food was gone.
“I hope we have a big crowd,” Gibson, 65, said.
No “going out of business” farewell notices on the cafeteria Monday; just a notice on Facebook or word of mouth.
“The Fayetteville location’s last day of business will be Tuesday, March 25, 2025,” a Facebook post read. “Until then, we invite you to come dine with us, enjoy your favorite meals and celebrate the memories that have made this location so special.”
But Tuesday was nothing like April 18, 2018, when city and county dignitaries joined with Dax Allred, the president of the family-owned business founded by his grandfather, Grady T. Allred, in 1937 in Winston-Salem, to christen the new location of the cafeteria.
The old model of the cafeteria was out; the new model of the cafeteria under the management of a new generation was in, replete with a “Carolina Cafe” for orders to accommodate customers on the go.
“I’ll bet your readers would be surprised to see the cool features that we have incorporated,” Julie Long, project coordinator and customer service director for K&W Cafeteria Corp, was telling me about the cafeteria’s new model in 2018 when I was with The Fayetteville Observer.
Long also is the founder’s granddaughter.
“It’s not our grandfather’s cafeteria,” she said.
She was right.
It wasn’t.
Epilogue
The ladies on the serving line — Devlin Royster, affectionately known as “Miss D,” and Bridgette Ellis, aka “Miss Bridgette” — still were there when the cafeteria opened not far from the shopping center’s signature replica of the Eiffel Tower. And Henry McKinnon was there Tuesday for the cafeteria’s last hurrah at the shopping center. He’s been cooking back in the kitchen 43 years, Gibson said. They call McKinnon “Mr. Bo.”
Covid-19 took its toll on the cafeteria. The K&W Cafeteria business, according to published reports, was sold to Piccadilly Restaurants in 2022. Beyond that, what we know is that the K&W Cafeteria will not open today for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It’s out of business in this community.
“Everybody is teary-eyed,” James Gibson said Monday evening. “Employees and customers. I’ll miss most of all making my customers happy and going that extra mile for them.”
Susie Sosa was melancholy, too.
“I’ve been crying,” the 62-year-old waitress said. “My co-workers and customers are family to me.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
We’re in our third year of CityView Today, and so many of you have been with us from day one in our efforts to bring the news of the city, county, community and Cape Fear region each day. We’re here with a purpose — to deliver the news that matters to you.
I can’t help but wonder if they would be going out of business if they remained at the old location in Fayetteville – and had never tried to “modernize” their dining room. The feel was never the same in the new location – it seemed like they tried to fix something that was not broken. But I couldn’t help but notice they did close all 3 of their “original style” restaurants in Myrtle Beach around the time of COVID (and never re-opened), and then they closed their Statesville I-95 restaurant as well (also, “original style”). So maybe things just changed w/ the newer generation – but I hate it. We loved the food – it was the same stuff my grandmother used to make. I remember leaving church just a few minutes early to try to beat the long lines at the K&W.
Bill, I enjoyed your story on the K&W Cafeteria closing its Fayetteville location after so many years in the community. My family enjoyed the Southern culinary fare at the K&W, mostly at the original location on Village Drive next to the Bordeaux Motor Inn. Since we lived in Briarwood Hills, it was just a hop, skip, and a jump away. The food and family atmosphere were great, the servers and waitresses were so helpful and friendly and often called me “honey” or “sweetheart,” and the ice tea, of course, was always “sweet”! Thanks for the memories, Bill, and keep up the good work at CityView.