K&W Cafeterias, an institution throughout North Carolina for nearly nine decades, has shut its doors for good.
The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based cafeteria-style chain announced on its website and on Facebook that it would shut down its remaining locations on Monday.
“K&W has always been more than a restaurant, it has been a gathering place, a home for Sunday traditions and a warm table for millions of families across generations,” the company said in its Facebook post.
“We are truly sorry to bring this chapter to an end, but profoundly thankful for the love you’ve shown us for nearly nine decades.”
K&W has struggled since the pandemic. The company went into that period with 28 locations, most of them in North Carolina. It closed nine of them during the pandemic but still landed in bankruptcy.
The company was sold two years later to another Southern cafeteria-style chain, Piccadilly.
K&W started the year with 10 locations and $27 million in annual system sales, according to Technomic. Sales last year fell 10%, and Technomic had forecasted 2025 to be worse, with a projected 11.5% sales decline.
The chain was founded in Winston-Salem in 1937 as the Carolinian Coffee Shop. It later changed its name to K&W for two cofounders, William Wilson and T.K. Knight. The company was later bought by Grady Allred, who started as an employee, became a partner and by 1941 had become its sole owner. The coffee shop evolved into a cafeteria and remained in the Allred family until its sale three years ago.
Its struggles have followed a difficult period for chains that give consumers a menu of already-prepared food, notably the cafeteria business. Houston-based Luby’s has shrunk by 53% since 2019, according to Technomic. Piccadilly’s sales fell 5% last year and 42% since 2019. Several buffet chains have completely shut down, notably Old Country Buffet.
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