Sep. 14—HIGH POINT — Mayberry Restaurant is fully reopened following renovations to its kitchen.

Lunch and dinner service had to be suspended for about a week during the work. Mayberry, at 131 W. Lexington Ave., was able to operate only the ice cream parlor portion of its business during this time, but restaurant service fully resumed on Friday, owner Mike Rankin said.

"We want the people of High Point to know we're back in business," he said. "We missed everybody."

Rankin said the renovations were "not tremendously" disruptive to the business.

"We had to redo our grill lines in the kitchen," he said. "We added hot water heaters, which the health department wanted, and we remodeled the back of the house and the kitchen area."

Mayberry is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

It's been at the same High Point location since 1969, when the restaurant chain was established. It evolved out of several dairy bars in the region, and it has kept the ice cream parlor side of the business.

Rankin owns four Mayberry locations — High Point, two in Winston-Salem and one in Greensboro.

"We kind of do Winston as our flagship because it was one of the first ones," he said. "High Point, of course, is our second-busiest unit."

Rankin said Mayberry is weathering the challenges that restaurants and other types of businesses have faced since the coronavirus pandemic.

"Supply-chain issues have gotten a little better. Of course, they're not back to pre-COVID levels yet," he said. "Labor issues, of course, are still a challenge in certain areas. The front of the house is looking a lot better. Some kitchen help and back-of-the-house staffing is still somewhat of a challenge, but it certainly has gotten better than it was."