SHELBY, N.C. — According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, COVID-19 cases remain high due to the delta variant.

The restaurant industry continues to be impacted, but the staff at Red Bridges BBQ works hard to keep their customers safe. 

Co-owner Natalie Ramsey, whose grandparents started this business 76 years ago, says she's noticed an increase in take-home orders lately.

"We have a ton more call-in orders instead of [people] coming in, so they will just get it and take it home with them because it’s safer," Ramsey said. "But like I said, we sanitize everything from top to bottom, every time someone leaves the counter, all of that, so we are doing everything on our end possible to keep it safe for everyone."

She says they're grateful to the community who helped them stay open during the pandemic through take-out orders. 

“We are hoping that it’s not ever going to go back to what it was," she said. "It’s not easy on us, but we still made it by, we still did things, we still had our great customers, they sit in the car, we bring the food to them and we are still doing that. If you are scared to come in, call us. We are more than happy to come out to you.”

Just recently, Ramsey's grandmother, Lyttle Bridges, who opened the restaurant with her husband in 1946, was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri.