Early Saturday morning, a restaurant forced to take an extended break after being a part of Charlotte history for more than 50 years will be back in business.
The Kopper Kettle, which has been closed for nearly two years since a kitchen fire, will reopen and welcome old friends along with new ones.
Dozens of excited customers are celebrating its return on Instagram and Facebook posts. There might even be a line waiting when the doors open at 5 a.m.
“Will you allow camping out the night before?” Eric L Frederich asked via Facebook.
“That’s awesome!!! Just party all night and show up at 5,” a reply from Kopper Kettle said.
The counter at Kopper Kettle in Pineville. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive Kopper Kettle endures
George and Penny Karnezis opened Kopper Kettle on May 12, 1971, in a former Pineville home that has seen a few fresh starts since it was built in 1940. Their daughter, Sara, was born just a few months later, creating a lifelong second home filled with staff members and customers who would grow to become friends.
“It was a home, and then it became a restaurant, and it’s endured everything for the past 80 years. (Hurricane) Hugo gave us the windows. It’s just endured everything, and I have a respect for it as an entity,” Sara Karnezis Morris told CharlotteFive.
Kopper Kettle began in a former home on Nations Ford Road in Pineville in 1971. It was once surrounded by fields, as shown in a photo that hangs in the restaurant. But, today, it sits amid an industrial area teeming with shift workers. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive
The restaurant Morris played hide and seek in as a child has been closed since Oct. 30, 2024. That morning, a server arriving to prepare for opening called at 4:30 a.m. to tell her an alarm was going off, and water was seeping out of the building.
By the time Morris arrived, firefighters inside had determined that a fire that started in a fryer was over, but the sprinklers from Kopper Kettle’s fire-suppression system had flooded everything.
“We don’t know what time it started, but it happened sometime during the night,” she said.
“And then it was just a nightmare, honestly. It was just shock. What do you do in this situation?
Sara Morris is reopening Kopper Kettle on Oct. 3. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive
“There was an option to just demolish the whole thing or to rebuild, and along with my family, we decided to move forward with rebuilding. And so we did.”
But nothing that followed was easy.
“It was awful, and it was shocking, and it was devastating and it was scary — and all of the things. But also good,” she said.
“It’s a weird timing kind of thing,” Morris shared, dabbing the tears away. “My dad was very sick in the last two years and required a lot of care … so it allowed me to help him and my mom a lot.”
Personal mementos, family photos and items collected over the decades decorate the Kopper Kettle dining room. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive
But the extended closure also meant longtime staff members had to seek out other work. Morris had to get a new job, too.
“It was hard the whole two years,” Morris said.
And just as things were finally starting to come together, the family was hit with another blow.
Morris’ father, George Angelo Karnezis, died in his sleep April 30 at age 88.
“He was a great storyteller, a great joke teller. He loved people, and people loved him,” Morris told The Charlotte Observer at the time.
George Karnezis founded the longtime Kopper Kettle family restaurant in Pineville with his wife, Penny. Courtesy of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral Home
His daughter had hoped to reopen in time for Kopper Kettle’s 55th anniversary on May 12. But that wasn’t in the cards.
Instead, that would have to wait a few months longer, after a gantlet of inspections that included long waits was finally finished.
A framed 1990s newspaper clipping from the Charlotte Observer featuring the Kopper Kettle’s George Karnezis and his grandson, Marc, hangs in the newly renovated restaurant. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive Reopening the doors
Now, on Saturday, Oct. 3, the doors will finally swing open once more for customers to walk into a freshly painted space that’s decorated with items collected over more than 50 years.
“It just kind of happened, but I think it’s a good mix of old and new,” Morris said.
“It looks familiar. The layout is pretty much the same. New floors, new ceilings, new walls, new equipment, new lighting, all that. But the feel of it is pretty much the same.”
The dining room at Kopper Kettle. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive
The messages from longtime customers have already been streaming in.
“People message me on social media if they don’t have my direct personal phone number. … I hear from a lot of people. I have to go through my contacts because I’ve promised all the customers that I have their personal numbers for that I would contact them directly and let them know.”
The back wall of the main dining room at Kopper Kettle. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive
And while Morris is looking forward to connecting with each of them, it’s also tough to move forward without her dad.
“I went to Restaurant Depot for the first time to get some things and just wanted to talk to my dad, and it just kind of hit me really hard. Like, it’s happening. He’s not here,” she said.
“It doesn’t really hit me hard often, but it did yesterday — and today, too.”
“I’m overwhelmed with all of the emotions,” she added. “I’m super excited for a lot of reasons. I’ve missed it a lot. I’ve missed the crew here — we’re like family. I miss the customers. A couple of them dropped in today, which was nice. And it’s a hub for my family.
“That’s one of the best things about the Kopper Kettle for me, personally, is that it’s a hub for my family, customers, their families. So that’s part of why I love it so much. So, yeah, it’s a combination of feelings.”
Kopper Kettle owner Sara Morris’ son, Marc, dropped in during a break in his workday to check in. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive
A new menu is at the printer, with additions like Buffalo chicken and shrimp and grits. But, by and large, customers’ decades-old favorites will be back on the table — and in the same large portions they remember.
“The guys in the kitchen are kings,” Morris said of longtime cooks Selmo, Fabian and Jesse.
They’ll be back on board. So will the lead server, Shayna.
All this time, they’ve been “making ends meet, waiting to come back — which I’m so thankful for. I’m deeply grateful,” Morris said.
A framed photo of George and Penny Karnezis is displayed along with memorabilia at Kopper Kettle. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive
Just like everyone else, her mom has been looking forward to a taste of her favorite meal.
“She used to eat half patty melts all the time,” Morris said. Now, “she’s like, I want a half patty melt so bad!”
And Morris is looking forward to the “really good food” herself: smashed pot, huge breakfast burritos “packed full of goodness,” omelets, “the steamed cabbage I missed a lot.”
Original Smashed Pot with bacon at Kopper Kettle. Alex Cason CharlotteFive
She recognizes that Kopper Kettle is a special place as one of the few Greek-owned restaurants that helped form Charlotte’s dining culture that still remains.
“A lot of the old restaurants — the classic old Greek diners — a lot of them have closed,” Morris said. “I’m glad to still be here.
“I hope people love it like I do.”
A Loaded Burrito with sausage at Kopper Kettle. Alex Cason CharlotteFive
Location: 11000 Nations Ford Rd, Pineville, NC 28134
Menu: Breakfast | Lunch
Cuisine: American, Southern
Instagram: @kopper_kettle1971
Kopper Kettle is located at 11000 Nations Ford Road in Pineville. Heidi Finley CharlotteFive
Related Stories from Charlotte Observer
Heidi Finley
The Charlotte Observer
Heidi Finley is a writer and editor for CharlotteFive and the Charlotte Observer. Outside of work, you will most likely find her in the suburbs driving kids around, volunteering and indulging in foodie pursuits.
Support my work with a digital subscription
Dining and Cooking