Even Job might think Jolly Ollie’s has suffered enough. In the summer of 2019 this 14 year-old Hendersonville pizza-and-wings joint burned in a fire caused by an incident with a semi-trailer and a power line. It finally reopened after 13 months, but that was during the first wave of the Covid crisis, which left businesses everywhere fighting to survive. And then, after that dark season finally passed, a tornado flattened the building in December of last year.
Once again, the restaurant has rebounded. Last month Jolly Ollie’s celebrated its latest reopening, and owner Dilya Knight told me rebuilding was the only option. “Everyone is here,” said Knight, an Uzbek who grew up in Moscow and arrived in America in 2008. “We come in; we hug; we know each other; and we connect with people. That has a value.”
