By Charlie Pogacar
On July 5, Tropical Storm Chantal dropped nearly a foot of rain on Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the surrounding area. As rain pelted down, The Loop—a fast-casual restaurant that features pizza—found itself in an unfortunately familiar position: The building began to flood.
Situated at a low point in Chapel Hill, the restaurant had been through several floods since it opened 30 years ago. Each time, the restaurant bounced back, motivated in part by its loyal neighborhood following. But in July, as the water level in the restaurant went from 6” to a foot in about an hour, store owner Scott Novak made the call to close the restaurant and send everybody home. It was a quick-thinking act that may have saved lives: About 5 hours later, the restaurant had taken on 6 feet of water—by far the worst flooding it had ever endured.
When the floodwaters receded and Novak was able to get back to the shop, it was clear the 30-year-old restaurant was a total loss: equipment overturned, walk-ins shifted off their foundations and walls that had collapsed under force. Novak picked up the phone and called Chris Hartley, The Loop’s chief operating officer. While Chapel Hill’s flooding was documented by some news sources, the coverage may have been upstaged by the devastating flooding that had occurred in the Texas hill country days earlier. In other words, Hartley, who lives in Jacksonville, had heard nothing about flooding in Chapel Hill when he picked up Novak’s call.
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“He said, ‘Chris, I’ve lost everything,” Hartley told PMQ Pizza. “And I said, Scott, I don’t know what you’re talking about. He said, ‘Well, we flooded.’”
What has transpired since that phone call is inspiring, and a testament to the way The Loop and its restaurants form a bond with the communities surrounding them. Employees started a GoFundMe campaign that quickly achieved its goal of $25,000, funds that will go directly to lost wages—which were not covered by flood insurance—while the restaurant is closed. And Novak and The Loop’s leadership team agreed to rebuild the restaurant right where it is. If you think that’s unwise, you might not understand The Loop and its 30-year run in Chapel Hill.
More Than Just Pizza
The Loop has long occupied a unique position in the fast-casual landscape. Founded in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1981, it has grown to 14 locations in two states, offering more than just pizza. Originally a Chicago-style pizza shop, the brand transformed over the years into something quite different.
“What makes us kind of unique is our broad menu,” Hartley said. “We have a grill segment, a salad segment and a pizza segment. So we’re relatively unique in the pizza category in that we offer much more than just pizzas.”
Every item is made to order. That includes 8″ and 12″ pies, as well as a whole menu of pinsa that come in 7″x8″ or 8″x13″ squares. “When you come into The Loop, every salad is fresh-sauced, every wrap is handmade, every burger is cooked to order, hand-pattied,” Hartley said. “Our pizzas aren’t held—we hand-stretch the dough. Same goes for our pinsa product, which we’ve had for about four years now company-wide.”
That dedication to fresh preparation and a broad menu has given the brand a loyal following. But it’s the brand’s personal touch that really seems to stick with its customer base. If the food is made with love, the customers are treated with love, too.
“We did a really big survey years ago,” said Marla Matson-Quattrone, The Loop’s chief marketing officer. “And what we really heard is that people just love The Loop. And if they used the word love, it was ‘love,’ ‘always,’ and food—those were the three words that people used most.”
A Culture of Caring
The phrase “Loop Love” was born—and it isn’t just marketing speak. It shows up in the way The Loop interacts with employees and communities.
“Something we agreed on was just this little peanut of an idea,” Matson-Quattrone explained. “And we really use ‘Loop Love’ as a touch point for our recipes, how fresh our food is, but also the way we treat people. So we have a pretty cool culture. We must be at 45, 50 charities that we support throughout the year.”
That culture became evident in the aftermath of the storm, particularly in the way restaurant regulars began donating to the GoFundMe campaign to take care of the team members who had taken care of them and their families for so many years. It took a few hours for the campaign to reach more than its goal of $25,000—the money was made up mostly of small donations, with a few larger contributions as well.
The brand also has a spirit night planned at the neighboring Durham location, where a portion of all sales will go toward benefiting Chapel Hill employees.
Four Floods, One Decision: Stay
It seems that devastating flooding has become the norm in many areas—it has affected pizzerias in Vermont to California and so many places in between. And as was aforementioned, this was not the first time The Loop had faced flooding—it was the fourth, in fact. Novak and The Loop’s leadership had to ask themselves a hard question, a question that’s become increasingly common in certain communities: Do we really want to rebuild our pizzeria here? Is it just going to flood again?
“We did explore considering some other spaces,” Hartley acknowledged. “But honestly it was a conversation that passed very quickly. The owners really like the center. That’s where we’ve been for 30 years.”
The franchisee’s commitment to Chapel Hill is unwavering. “This location has been good to us,” Novak said, “and the community has been even better—we’re not leaving now.”
Matson-Quattrone added that community passion played a role in the conversation. “We just announced on Facebook that we were rebuilding in the same place and coming back, and we had 750 people weigh in and probably had 200 comments,” she said. “It was pretty intense actually, and people are mostly very passionate about [us staying].”
Besides, there’s tradition at stake: The Chapel Hill restaurant is due to celebrate its 30th anniversary this fall—a celebration that will have to wait until the restaurant is back open, hopefully soon.
Rebuilding Toward the Future
Renovations are already underway. The restaurant has been stripped to the studs, wiring and panels replaced, and materials ordered. City officials have pledged to fast-track approvals, and the design will mirror The Loop’s newer Durham prototype.
Matson-Quattrone said she and Hartley were already involved in the process of pla,nning the redesign within a week of the storm. “We have already established the redesign, and all the plans have been drawn and everything, so we’re ready to go as soon as we get that all clear,” she said.
The financial burden remains steep. “We’re looking at roughly double what we’re getting from insurance to properly rebuild and open,” Hartley explained. “So we’re carrying about 50% of the liability from a rebuild perspective.”
Looking Ahead
When it reopens, The Loop Chapel Hill will have a refreshed interior but the same mix of burgers, salads, pizzas, and hand-dipped shakes that locals have loved since 1995.
Matson-Quattrone sees the rebuild not only as recovery but as reaffirmation of The Loop’s values. “We don’t really make a big deal about it,” she said. “There’s something to be said for just being a good resource for folks and not tooting your own horn all the time.”
For a brand built on community connection, that approach seems fitting. In Chapel Hill, “Loop Love” is what brought people together for 30 years—and what will carry the restaurant through its comeback.
