Charlotte restaurateurs had to watch from afar while Helene destroyed their Asheville locations

Kaitlyn Burton’s role as director of operations for PIE.ZZA looks different these days. Instead of managing the day-to-day operations of the pizza joint’s two stores, this week she’s focused on making phone calls to her employees, checking to see if they are alive.

“It’s been terrifying to try and communicate with employees …There’s still some people we haven’t heard from, and we’re trying to communicate with them every single day,” Burton told CharlotteFive on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

PIE.ZAA is a late-night pizzeria with locations in both Asheville’s South Slope Brewing District and Charlotte’s South End neighborhood. While Burton lives in Charlotte, she’s a Henderson County native. For her, Hurricane Helene hit extremely close to home.

“Now that the rivers have gone down, we can really see what’s been going on — cars flipped over, houses completely washed away. It’s so surreal,” she said of the storm’s extensive damage.

[WHAT’S NEXT? After Helene, can NC businesses and tourist sites restore ‘the magic of Asheville’?]

Reaching Asheville employees has been difficult — not just for Burton, but for many Charlotte business owners with locations in Western North Carolina. With cell phone service scattered at best, communication has been a hurdle during this unprecedented time.

One employee Burton was able to reach is the Asheville store’s general manager, Kayla Smith. Burton said Smith was trapped in her neighborhood with roads leading in and out blocked by fallen trees and other debris, making it nearly impossible for cars to enter or exit.

“She (Smith) was walking for three hours to be able to find any cell reception to connect with me,” Burton explained.

Thankfully, a family member was able to reach Smith and get her to safety.

While Burton diligently checks on her employees’ welfare, PIE.ZAA owner Tyler Kotch is using his trusty chainsaw to help clear roads.

“Tyler has been very adamant about taking his chainsaw and cutting down trees to make sure that roads are becoming accessible,” Burton said. “Whether that’s our employees or random people.”

Kotch was also able to bring essential supplies to the Asheville store’s assistant manager.

While Burton still doesn’t know the full extent of the damage to PIE.ZAA’s Asheville location, she says it seems that Helene left it mostly unscathed, though the store is still closed and without power or water. Other businesses, like Summit Coffee Co. , which has an Asheville location just down the road, weren’t as fortunate.

“We didn’t have a loss of our entire business or anything like that, which we’re extremely thankful for and almost feel guilty over,” Burton said. “But our employees are out of work now, and without them working, they can’t make money for their families.”

Charlotte and Asheville: Two connected North Carolina cities

We all know and love Asheville, Charlotte’s beloved neighbor to the west. While different in culture and scenery — Asheville is known for its relaxed mountain energy, while Charlotte is a metropolitan banking town — our two cities share a lot in common.

Many of our favorite Charlotte spots, like PIE.ZAA, have locations in the Asheville area. Familiar spots like Summit Coffee Co., PlantHouse , Blaze Pizza , Burial Beer Co. , Hi-Wire Brewing and Botiwalla by Chai Pani have all been affected by Hurricane Helene, the catastrophic storm that has devastated Western North Carolina.

Employees and their families are displaced and business owners are facing uncharted territory — no one expected this level of devastation.

In the days following the storm, images and videos show historic levels of flooding with popular destinations like Asheville’s River Arts District and Chimney Rock’s Main Street completely decimated. Businesses have been literally swept away in Helene’s wake. Now, much of what remains is wreckage, mud and debris.

Many Asheville businesses are focused on prioritizing employees’ welfare, as well as providing support to the community and surrounding towns. Charlotte businesses have also risen to the occasion, providing much-needed supplies to Western North Carolina and beyond.

How other Western North Carolina businesses are coping after Helene

A couple miles down the road from PIE.ZAA’s Asheville location is Summit Coffee Co, a Davidson-based coffee shop with locations in Charlotte and other areas across the South. Its Asheville spot was severely damaged when the French Broad River flooded the River Arts District, leaving total destruction in its path.

Summit Coffee Co. CEO Brian Helfrich said in the days leading up to the storm, he expected minor flooding — nothing that the store couldn’t handle. In reality, Summit Coffee was ambushed by rushing water almost as high as the building itself.

“The first photo I received from the franchise owner was around 2 p.m., when the main wall had collapsed and water was over 10 feet high,” Helfrich said. “Later that night we saw video coverage of the River Arts District with only the roof of our building visible above the floods.”

The building’s main wall is mostly gone, the roof is partially caved in and the store is waterlogged.

“I’ll never forget the physical reaction,” Helfrich said upon seeing the initial photos of the flooding. “It gave me chills and tears. Everything was simultaneously tense and draining from my body.”

While the fate of the coffee shop is unknown, Helfrich said his priority right now is the welfare of his crew. Through Oct. 6, Summit Coffee Co. is supporting its team by giving 100 percent of proceeds from all online coffee orders to a fund for its displaced Asheville staff.

“Our short-term priorities have been to support them,” Helfrich said. “This online coffee sale should at least help relieve stress for a while. We’ll figure out what happens with the cafe after a few days.”

In terms of the weeks ahead, Helfrich, like many others in Western North Carolina, doesn’t know what the future will hold.

“We don’t quite know what the future looks like, other than that we are committed to having a presence in Asheville,” he said.

Hi-Wire Brewing, a brewery headquartered in Asheville with a location in Charlotte also faced devastation at its River Arts District location.

“It is heartbreaking,” co-owner Bryna Frosaker told us. “There’s just mud everywhere. (The flood) went probably 10 feet up the building.”

Frosaker, an Asheville local, was there throughout the worst of the storm. She says she didn’t realize the magnitude of the destruction until she was able to finally get cell phone reception.

“I knew what was happening in Asheville, but I didn’t realize the breadth of it going on elsewhere,” she said.

In order to touch base with Hi-Wire employees and check on their wellbeing, Frosaker reached out to an employee based outside of Asheville. They were able to connect to all of Hi-Wire’s team members. All were safe — but not unscathed.

“We had one employee with a tree go through his daughter’s bedroom,” Frosaker said.

Hi-Wire’s Biltmore Village location also received some damage, but Frosaker is hoping to reopen there soon.

“As soon as we have power and water — and assuming our employees can get safely to work — we can begin operations again,” she said.

Like Summit Coffee, PlantHouse has multiple locations across the Carolinas, including in Asheville and Charlotte. Severe flooding overtook the plant store’s Biltmore Village location.

“The water was almost all the way to the ceiling,” Charlotte store manager Brittany Pineda said.

Pineda told CharlotteFive that many of the PlantHouse employees live near the damaged store in Asheville, a point of concern as the damage in the area was severe. She eventually received confirmation from the Asheville store manager that the entire PlantHouse team is safe and accounted for.

“It was pretty scary for us just trying to figure out if everyone on the team was OK and if the store was OK,” she said.

While some business owners have had luck reaching employees, others are still trying. Jimmy Sierra, a franchise owner for Blaze Pizza locations in Charlotte, Gastonia and Asheville, said it’s been difficult to make contact with a majority of his crew.

“So far we have been able to get in contact with about 20 percent or less of our team members,” Sierra told CharlotteFive. “All are OK (so far) except one. His house suffered damage when a tree fell on top of the house — no idea the extent of the damage yet.”

Sierra, a Puerto Rican native, is no stranger to hurricanes. However, that doesn’t make their impact any less jarring — especially here in North Carolina.

“I never expected Asheville to go through that,” he said.

Both of Blaze Pizza’s Asheville locations are relatively undamaged, and its Gerber Village location has had power and water restored.

Sierra hopes to reopen as soon as possible. Not only does he want to reopen for the people of Asheville, but also for team members who rely on Blaze Pizza for income.

“Our team members have always been an important part of our success, and we want to be there for them in this time of great need,” he said.

Restaurants give food and water to WNC residents after Helene

One of the biggest concerns for the people of Asheville right now is access to food and water. Botiwalla by Chai Pani, an Indian restaurant with locations in Asheville, Atlanta and Charlotte, is working hard to provide life-saving food relief with the support of World Central Kitchen , an organization that prepares food for communities impacted by natural disasters.

A spokesperson for Chai Pani Restaurant Group told CharlotteFive that all 150 team members are safe and accounted for. The restaurant group has set up an internal resource center for staff, equipped with charging stations, Wi-Fi and onsite translators for team members who don’t speak English.

“It’s critical they have what they need to start FEMA applications, insurance claims and relief applications with incredible organizations like Giving Kitchen and Southern Smoke Foundation . More than anything, it’s become a community space for our team to be together, to hug each other,” the spokesperson said.

In the days since the storm, Burial Beer Co., an Asheville-based brewery with a Plaza Midwood Charlotte location, has also been able to provide clean water, Burial beer and free burgers to Asheville locals at its South Slope Taproom .

How to help small businesses in WNC after Hurricane Helene

Here’s how to help these businesses in both cities in Helene’s aftermath:

• PlantHouse’s Bailey Ryan has set up a Go Fund Me , with all proceeds going to crew members and their families. PlantHouse Charlotte has also been serving as a donation drop-off spot. The store is accepting water, nonperishable food, hygiene products and other essentials.

• At PIE.ZAA, Kotch has set up a Go Fund Me to help support the Asheville community.

• Hi-Wire Brewing is collecting hurricane relief supplies at its Charlotte, Wilmington and Durham locations to be flown to Asheville and surrounding areas. You can support Hi-Wire’s staff via its online relief fund .

• Summit Coffee Co . is supporting its team by giving 100 percent of proceeds from all online coffee orders through Oct. 6 to a fund for its displaced Asheville staff.

• Sierra has also set up a Go Fund Me for Blaze Pizza employees in Asheville, with all donations going directly to the staff to help them rebuild and recover.

• Guests can add a donation directly to their check when they dine at Botiwalla by Chai Pani in Optimist Hall. All donations go towards supporting Chai Pani Restaurant Group team members who have been impacted by Hurricane Helene.

[HOW TO HELP: An updated list of Charlotte restaurants and shops collecting donations for hurricane relief.]