CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The pandemic’s impact on the restaurant business has come in waves as state and local restrictions on masks and other COVID-19 measures have ebbed and flowed. 

But a family from Florida decided to move to the Charlotte area to take over a restaurant they said is in their family’s blood.

“Hello how are ya?” Briana Strelko asked a customer from the drive-thru window of her coffee and tea shop.

Strelko and her husband bought Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea last summer, which Strelko said fulfilled a lifelong dream.

“My grandfather in Mexico did own a bunch of coffee land,” Strelko said, explaining her family sold it locally in their neighborhood.

The farm is still in operation.

“So, I feel like it’s just been kind of like in my blood. My first job you know, started at 17, I was working in Dunkin,” Strelko added.

Now, she operates her coffee shop on the border of North and South Carolina.

“I feel in my element when I’m in a coffee shop,” she said with a smile.

She and her husband took over operations from a previous owner, reopening in July. They found the location thanks to restaurant broker Justin Scotto.

Scotto owns and operates a branch of the brokerage We Sell Restaurants, which helps clients sell restaurants or get into the restaurant business.

“You want to look at, you know, is it clean? Is the restaurant organized? You know, how’s the dining room? Are the floors clean, are the counters clean?” Scotto said about touring a restaurant before purchase.

Scotto spent more than a decade running a Firehouse Subs, before starting his restaurant brokerage. He said it’s a personal joy connecting people with a business fed on passion.

“Satisfying customers is such a fulfilling thing. When you give them amazing food and product, and they keep coming back and you have regulars! I mean, that’s the fun side of it,” Scotto added.

Demand for the business is at a high, according to Scotto. In the last four months, he’s had to expand his Charlotte business to three other cities in South Carolina — Greenville, Spartanburg and Columbia.

Currently, his brokerage office has 60 listings worth $40 million.

Internally, Scotto said they have the capacity to advertise to roughly 100,000 buyers across the country through We Sell Restaurants. But the work does not stop at buying and selling. Brokers like Scotto use their expertise in the business to help new buyers connect with vendors, sign leases, order inventory and other tools needed to run a successful restaurant. 

It’s the same process which helped Strelko find Sweetwaters.

“I wanted to be in my element, in a coffee shop, plus with a drive-thru, because drive-thru’s very big nowadays, especially post-pandemic,” Strelko said.

Across Charlotte, Scotto said demand for restaurants is on the rise, given the city’s blooming population and young chefs looking to start restaurants in the city.