maybe they’ll stop making their customers microwave their own pastries
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Welp. She’ll be fucked for the next ten years, minimum.
Dang, how lucky is she those propane tanks didn’t go off?
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This surfaced in my Reddit. Sad to see and possibly surprising coming from an institution like Empire Eats? I’m sure some of you have more visibility or know more about their reputation running restaurants.
I guess we’ll see if Morning Times can recover…
There’s been a lot of Empire Eats and Greg Hatem hate on the Raleigh subreddit for as long as I can remember. Just does not seem to be a good group of restaurants to be an employee of. Don’t know how much it extends to the real estate branch of the empire.
https://www.reddit.com/r/raleigh/comments/aoizgw/greg_hatem_boycott_superthread/ (from 7 years ago)
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No idea what actually was going on there since the post is pretty vague, but I’m not surprised. Considering all of Greg Hatem’s negative history, not to mention he booted Fullsteam out of their longtime location and closed The Pit Durham next door, presumably to just tear down the buildings for more apartments…yeah I’m not a fan.
All I’ve heard is that their partnerships sour and eventually fizzle out. I’m not sure if this is still true but it could represent a pattern here. Gravy was launched with Empire and Bella Monica and that relationship ended. The Pit with Ed Mitchell, same thing. Yet again with Sitti, co-founded with those behind Neomonde.
That’s what I’ve heard that all these relationships have ended yet the places are still up and running. 
TBJ reporting on Raleigh Denim’s new ownership. They’re shrinking the retail footprint but staying put and renovating the space. Sounds great. Currently the exterior gives no indication that $500 jeans are for sale inside lol. Maybe that’s part of the aesthetic but I like the sound of the new model. And lol if this is the same Empire 
I was asked to add the link but it’s obv pay walled. I don’t think we should share TBJ links here. Just buy the subscription if you want the article. That’s how it works. I’m not affiliated with them at all.
https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2026/05/19/kim-baker-owner-raleigh-denim-growth-strategy.html??utm_source=ma&utm_medium=dr&utm_campaign=rss&utm_content=general
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Interesting. Agree with you about the space, and yes Empire Properties is Greg Hatem just like Empire Eats.
@dtraleigh are you saying Gravy and Sitti are now just owned by Empire Eats and not the original people who started them up? That explains the drop in quality over time, I’m sure. Sad and frustrating.
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Yet another example of “don’t fuck with the people who are actually running your business”
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I think that is true yeah. They started out strong with those partnerships but the co-owners eventually walked away from it but Empire Eats still runs it. I am not 100% sure on that but that is what I have heard about Sitti and Gravy. I think we’ve all read the Ed Mitchell thing, that got a lot of press.
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I think Greg Hatem is my least favorite person in Raleigh.
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Does he walk down the street talking on speakerphone? I bet he does.
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You must really hatem
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My opinion on him is complicated… as a person, he seems like an elitist asshole and the way he treats (or allows to be treated) his employees is trash.
But then, he also ends up buying a lot of historic properties in the city with the express purpose of preserving them, usually with a beautiful renovation/restoration to bring them up to modern standards while maintaining their historic look - and sometimes even going as far as preserving the business said property houses, simply because it’s so long standing (for example: Mecca was at risk of closing when the aging owners were selling, Hatem/Empire bought the property, kept the business, and it’s still there today after nearly 100 years because of his company).
He’s a double-edged sword.
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I don’t think consolidation of property ownership downtown is a good thing, especially when said person has a terrible track record with their tenants and employees
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Maybe so, but again - had he not purchased, restored, and preserved all the historic properties that he has… they literally may not even still be around for us to be talking about, right now. Just another way of thinking.
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Yeah I don’t really get the hate. He has done a lot of good for downtown. Maybe he is an abusive asshole to work for idk. If so that is far from unique for restaurant owners so idk why the specific hate. That post is also super vague.
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it’s not all out of the kindness of his heart, there are numerous tax credits taken to buy, restore and maintain historic property
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