Lutra Cafe & Bakery will open in June at the American Tobacco Campus, moving from pop-ups to a 2,600‑sq‑ft café with buns, giant cinnamon rolls and a 100‑layer hashbrown.

Raleigh’s 321 Coffee is rolling into Costco stores statewide with a two‑pound 'Elevate' medium roast — a significant retail win for the inclusion‑focused roaster.

Boxcar Bar + Arcade plans a fourth North Carolina location at 951 Trade St NW in downtown Winston‑Salem, promising arcade games, pizza, a full bar and a large patio. The company is targeting late summer 2026.

Richmond-based Big Kitchen Hospitality plans to open a Granite Grill in GlenLake Office Park near Crabtree, adding an American-grill option to Raleigh's office corridor.

Wendy's removed three Triangle restaurants from its listings — two Raleigh locations and a Cary site — as the chain trims underperforming stores amid a national turnaround plan.

Tampa-based Grain & Berry is coming to Apex, led by a marathon runner-turned franchisee. The menu will focus on açaí bowls, smoothies and protein-forward flatbreads.

Three Rabbits Brewing is lining up a German-style taproom at 214 Commerce Place, aiming for a June soft opening and a larger late-summer celebration. The buildout includes a 1,500‑sq‑ft taproom.

Several Triangle restaurants improved A‑range scores after county reinspections fixed problems such as flies, unwashed hands and temperature lapses.

Florence "Flo" Winston, the last surviving co‑founder of the Angus Barn, has died at 90. The restaurant will lower flags and services are set for mid‑April.

Chicken Salad Chick will open its first Durham restaurant at Renaissance Center in Southpoint, targeting a Q2 2026 opening in a roughly 3,100 sq ft space.

Restaurants and shops are opening at Hub RTP’s Horseshoe in Durham — Cheeni added dinner service and High Horse and Prime STQ are lined up to follow. The cluster is shaping RTP’s first real downtown.

Mecklenburg County led North Carolina in ABC gross sales — about $280M across FY24–25 — with Tito’s Handmade Vodka topping the product lists and a state audit flagging distribution gaps.

Zaxby's on East Franklin Street closed Friday after about a year, leaving a high‑traffic UNC‑adjacent storefront vacant. Local reporting shows the listing also disappeared from some ordering pages.