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’?]