The Cloverdale Kitchen has been a staple in Winston-Salem, North Carolina since 1968 but has served its last meals of pancakes, omelettes, spaghetti, and comfort food served up by owners and brothers Dino and Johnny Cortesis.

Their father, George, founded it but they decided to close it, weary of rent increases, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

“This has been a great location,” Dino Cortesis said. “We probably should have moved years ago and gotten our own building. Every year our rent (went) up, and we were paying more rent than any of the mom-and-pops,” Johnny  Cortesis said.

“Even before COVID, it was getting hard,” Dino Cortesis said. “A few years ago, we started closing the restaurant at 3 PM, and senior citizens were our customer base and we were losing them,” the report said.

They kept it going against the odds and admitted they didn't adapt to the times.

“We kind of got ourselves in a box. All around us, other restaurants were evolving, but we stayed the same,” Johnny Cortesis said. “These are even the original floors. These are the original tables, the original counter.”