After fire and a pandemic, a mainstay of Charleston’s food scene mounts a comeback
The moment he realized that Magnolias could not reopen quickly or easily last summer, restaurant owner T.J. Parsell thought to himself, “How can it really get any worse after the last year that we’ve had?”
The pandemic had been a doozy for fine dining — even for an iconic Charleston establishment like Magnolias.
When the upscale Southern restaurant first opened on East Bay Street in the summer of 1990, it ushered in a culinary renaissance in a city that was still rebuilding a year after Hurricane Hugo smashed into the South Carolina coast.
The restaurant’s sophisticated take on Southern food in a modern atmosphere dazzled discerning critics and longtime locals alike, catapulting both the restaurant and the city itself to culinary fame as a must-visit food destination.
Yet in all of its 31 years, Magnolias has faced no greater challenge than the one-two punch of the pandemic and its accompanying labor shortage, followed by the devastating August kitchen fire that forced the iconic restaurant to close for more than five months. (An investigation later determined the fire was accidental after flammable items were discovered near a pilot light on a gas appliance, according to Charleston Chief Fire Marshal Mike Julazadeh.)
Such a combination of pandemic and fire would have destroyed almost any other restaurant, according to Bobby Williams, the chairman of the S.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association.
“But Magnolias is just that strong,” said Williams, who is also the CEO and co-founder of Lizard’s Thicket. “People have a special place in their hearts for Magnolias. It is the crown jewel of Charleston, and it’s one of those places that you can always recommend.”
Now, at long last, customers will finally be able to return to Magnolias again.
After a five-month hiatus, Magnolias will reopen for lunch and dinner on Thursday, making the restaurant’s recovery a much more emotional comeback than a return to business as usual.
“You know, you question what you did for God to put you through this test,” Parsell said as he reflected on the obstacles his restaurant has overcome. “And this has just been unlike anything we’ve had to endure.”
He mentioned the sacrifice of his employees — the servers, the line cooks, the dishwashers, the chefs, the managers — the folks whose lives bore the brunt of the restaurant’s temporary closure.
“It’s the people who are working in the restaurant that make Magnolias what it is,” Parsell said ahead of the reopening. “And with everything that’s been happening in the labor market, particularly in the restaurants, that was really the most trying thing we had to address.”
And so, Parsell made a pivotal decision.
He wouldn’t just encourage Magnolias employees to return to work when the restaurant reopened. Instead, he continued to pay them during the entire five months that Magnolias was closed.
A reason to come back
Parsell knew he was taking a risk by paying his employees throughout the restaurant’s closure. But he said he felt like he needed to give his employees a strong reason to return.
Most of the funds, Parsell said, will be covered by business interruption insurance, which helps companies recoup major financial losses if they are forced to close or suspend operations due to a disaster.
The only tricky thing has been working out the wages for workers like servers and bartenders who earn a majority of their income through tips. No matter what insurance decides to cover, Parsell said he has promised to pay a fair wage even if he has to pay it out of his own pocket.
“It’s so important to keep these people on the payroll in a fair way, with a fair wage because I don’t expect somebody to come back to us if we don’t show up for them,” Parsell said of his decision.
The choice comes at a time when most restaurants are still getting squeezed by a nationwide labor shortage. In a recent survey of 3,000 U.S. restaurant operators, 77% said they did not have enough workers to meet demand, according to the National Restaurant Association.
It was also a decision informed by some hard lessons learned during the peaks and valleys of the coronavirus pandemic.
Between mandated dining room closures and other pandemic restrictions, Parsell said annual sales at Magnolias tanked by 40% between 2019 and 2020. But in 2021, when pent-up demand sent customers racing back to restaurants, Magnolias struggled to keep up.
To cope with its lack of staff, the restaurant limited the number of reservations it could offer on a nightly basis and, on especially busy evenings, Magnolias staggered reservations so the kitchen would not get overwhelmed.
The delivery of a steady paycheck, which came with no strings attached during the restaurant’s temporary closure, may have paid off.
An estimated 75% of Magnolias staff will be returning when the restaurant reopens, including the heavy-hitters in the kitchen.
Don Drake, who first joined Magnolias as a sous chef in 1991 and is now its culinary arts director, will still be at the helm of the kitchen. The restaurant also confirmed Kevin Southerlin will be returning as chef de cuisine, along with executive sous chef Landice Simmons and sous chefs Elliott Wells and James Simmons.
“The truth is we have people that have been with us for 10, 15, 20 years. They have remained loyal to us, and I have remained loyal to them,” Parsell said.
One of those people is Ed Murray, who has been a server at Magnolias ever since it opened.
He was there on the restaurant’s first night, and can still recall every detail, right down to the number of meals they served (178). And he’s looking forward to being a part of Magnolias’ triumphant return.
“You’ve got to make yourself eye-appealing and make sure that you’re ready to go,” said Murray, who is the last original hire who still works at Magnolias.
“Being a waiter is like going on stage,” he continued. “You’re looking out at a bunch of strangers, and you have to win them over and, at the same time, you have to win them over to the restaurant.”
He let out a chuckle.
“But let me tell you,” Murray said. “Magnolias is special. It’s service. It’s food. It’s hospitality. It’s everything.”
In a text message on Wednesday, on the eve of the restaurant’s reopening, Parsell said he was “excited and relieved” to finally reopen Magnolias. He added that it had been “a very long and bumpy road” to get back.
Now, he said in his message, it will just be business as usual.
This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 1:00 PM.
