A favorite Arlington lunch spot is struggling to stay afloat.
The restaurant, Fork in the Road, warned customers Wednesday on Facebook that business has not rebounded from the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Fork In The Road is dying,” the restaurant wrote. “We are very close to having to shutter our doors for good. This is not an exaggeration, it’s actually an understatement.”
Fork in the Road pointed to a list of woes, including difficulties recruiting employees, rising food prices and an increasing number of customers who prefer the ease of fast food over mom-and-pop-owned restaurants.
The restaurant also said it couldn’t get federal small business loans during the pandemic because bigger businesses gobbled up the money too quickly.
Bars and restaurants were among the hardest hit businesses by the pandemic. In one year, March 2020 to March 2021, about 18% of restaurants in Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington failed.
Fork in the Road opened in 2013 and “staked a role as the go-to Arlington restaurant for chef-driven lunch items such as truffled, three-cheese ‘crack-aroni’ or a thick Hedberg club sandwich,” the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Bud Kennedy wrote in 2018.
“We humbly and greatly implore and beg you to visit your local small businesses now or we’ll all be gone,” the restaurant wrote on Facebook. “Please don’t wait until they are gone wishing you would have frequented them more because by then it’s too late.”
Fork in the Road, 1821 S. Fielder Road, is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
