Lynchburg Businesses Finding New Ways to Thrive Amidst Pandemic

Lynchburg businesses are embracing community and creativity in a time of uncertainty and adversity.

“Quarantine really gave us the time, space, and impetus to act creatively,” Myke Barron, co-owner of the White Hart Cafe said. “I’ve been inspired by a number of innovative ways people in the Lynchburg community have begun to operate their small businesses, specifically in our restaurants.”

As time in quarantine elapsed, Barron searched for ways to contribute to a solution and instill a rich sense of community among Lynchburg residents. 

“We started the Lynchburg community kitchen,” Barron said. “In conjunction with several other restaurants in town, we began serving hot meals to the families, the elderly and the homeless in our community twice a week.”

The Lynchburg Community Kitchen provided more than food for the people in the city; it opened a door for connection and fellowship. Barron said that the kitchen was a way to get people out of their homes to connect in a safe way.

With empty restaurants sitting silent across Lynchburg, several businesses saw the quarantine as an opportunity to revamp their interior and outdoor spaces. 

The White Hart Cafe took advantage of their closed doors by creating a beautiful back porch seating area. According to Barron, they turned full focus to the outdoor space behind the café, and began a special date night offer called the “Bella Vista back deck” for couples to reserve the back deck for a personalized meal, live music and photography.

Due to COVID-19 regulations, local restaurants waited until the mandate was passed to allow limited and socially distant indoor seating. The White Hart Cafe, however, was not the only restaurant that tapped into inventive business methods. 

“I don’t think that there is any business that has not been dramatically affected by this pandemic,” Moriah McAllister, general manager of Mission House Coffee, said. “Yet I was completely blown away by how far people were going out of their way to be intentional about where their money went… This showed me the heart of the Lynchburg community, and it is beautiful.” 

McAllister described the Mission House Coffee app that is now available to make to-go orders safer, easier, and more efficient. 

“It used to be something that people would enjoy as an added convenience, but it quickly became the bread and butter of how our business operated,” McAllister said. 

The downtown location of Mission House Coffee normally engages the community by hosting trivia nights. Although the shop was empty during the pandemic, Mission House took the event online through Facebook live. 

“We did virtual trivia for a while in hopes of giving some added community in a time that was pretty isolating for a lot of people,” McAllister said.

The coffee shop will host its first socially distant, in-person trivia night on Friday, Sep. 4. The theme of the event will be based off the TV show, “Friends.”

Mission House Coffee also made some notable additions to their take-out menu. The cafe began selling lattes and espresso in bulk to limit the frequency of coffee runs and to do their part to make the community safer. 

“The uncertainty is still there,” McAllister said. “But we are pressing forward creatively.”

Jessi Green is a Feature Writer. Follow her on Twitter at @jessigreen0.