Old restaurant will come down, be rebuilt
One of Dunn’s best known and most popular restaurants is temporarily closed as officials tear down the old building at the site and prepare for a new, modern building.
The pieces of Smithfield’s Chicken ’N Bar-B-Q on West Cumberland Street were sold one at a time at an auction Tuesday morning. Some of the items included cooking pans, scales, coffee pot buckets and other accessories.
The Wester Auction & Realty out of Four Oaks conducted the auction.
The company said on its website they were instructed to sell everything in the building with the exception of food and paper products.
A crowd of potential buyers was in the store and bidders also were taking part in the auction online.
Much of the interior of the building has already been taken apart, with many booths already in several pieces.
Auctioneers sold equipment and other items which have helped the business serve the Dunn community for more than 30 years. Smithfield officials said demolition is set to start soon.
That will clear the way for what Smithfield President Lew Starling calls a whole new prototype building which will be state-of-the-art for the industry. The same building is in use at other Smithfield locations, including in Warsaw and in Wilmington. According to the company website, it is hoped all the restaurants in the chain will eventually use the new prototype buildings.
Mr. Starling said the company wants to honor local citizens who have supported them for many years.
“Dunn has been a wonderful place to do business and we felt like the people of Dunn and Harnett County deserve a new, modern restaurant,” Mr. Starling said. “Citizens will enjoy this when it is open.”
Dunn is the only Harnett County location for Smithfield’s. The company has a store in Newton Grove as well as in Smithfield and in the Cleveland community.
Mr. Starling said the entire process of demolishing the old building and replacing it with the new building will take approximately 120 days, or four months.
According to the Wester website, demolition of the building will begin Monday morning.
Smithfield’s operates 36 restaurants throughout North Carolina.
The company is named for the Town of Smithfield because the first store was located there, in a downtown building. In addition to chicken and barbecue the chain is known for a variety of side items including hushpuppies, cole slaw, baked beans, Brunswick stew and other items.
-Dunn Daily Record
