WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina-based icon of Southern comfort food has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a move that follows downsizing that began prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. K&W Cafeterias filed the 80-page petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. The filing was first reported by the Winston-Salem Journal. Before K&W filed for bankruptcy, it closed restaurants in August in Chapel Hill, Goldsboro, Raleigh and Salisbury. It shuttered its experimental K&W Cafe in Clemmons in July 2019 and in High Point in January. Since celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2012, K&W has gone from 35 restaurants to 18.

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K&W Cafeteria closed its location at the Berkeley Mall in Goldsboro in August.  In a statement released to GoldsboroDailyNews.com, President of K&W Cafeterias Dax Allred said “Due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on our overall business and the disproportionate effect the virus has had on our guest demographics, K&W had to make the difficult decision to exit several of our markets, including our Goldsboro location.”