WILMINGTON—According to a Go Fund Me campaign posted on the Chop’s Deli website Saturday afternoon, the local restaurants have just days to raise $100,000 or they will close permanently.
Co-owner Brad Corpening said he understood it was a lot to ask the community.
“We understand that this is a lot to ask, more than a lot, especially since a request such as this is evidence of past mistakes. But we must pursue every avenue in our efforts to correct those mistakes and save this business. To leave any stone unturned is to give up on the commitment we have made to this business and to this community,” Corpening said.
“Our only goal is to earn the opportunity to make good on that commitment and continue to serve our community to the best of our ability,” he added.
According to Joan Childress Wilkerson, a longtime friend of Corpening who is organizing the Go Fund Me, the restaurants are dealing with “crippling debt.”
Wilkerson said it was the result of “a short-term (financial) solution that caused a lot of long-term problems.” The issues would apparently impact the Chop’s Deli brand as a whole.
Wilkerson said that she acknowledged that $100,000 was a large amount of money to request without details, but said “we just have to hope that Wilmington will believe in the sandwich shop it loves and come together for us.”
You can find the fundraiser for Chop’s Deli here.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
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