S&W Cafeteria

S&W Cafeteria

Industry	Restaurant chain
Founded	1920
Defunct	1990s
Headquarters	Charlotte, North Carolina
Key people	Frank Odell Sherrill, founder
Products	Southern food

S And W Cafeteria
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
S&W Cafeteria, Asheville
Location	Patton Ave., Asheville, North Carolina
Area	0 acres (0 ha)
Built	1929
Architect	Ellington, Douglas D.
Architectural style	Art Deco
NRHP Reference #	77000993
Added to NRHP	March 28, 1977

S&W Cafeteria was a Charlotte, North Carolina-based chain of cafeteria-style restaurants. The chain specialized in low-cost, Southern-style food. Branches were located in the Southeastern United States from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta, Georgia.

The company was organized in 1920, by Frank Odell Sherrill and Fred Weber who had served as mess sergeants together in World War I. The operation originated at Ivey's department store which was located in Charlotte. The initial restaurant was located at 100 W. Trade Street in downtown Charlotte. By 1934, when the first Washington, D.C. location opened, cafeterias were located in Atlanta, Georgia; Asheville, Charlotte, and Raleigh, North Carolina; Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee; and Roanoke, Virginia. By the early 1950s, locations had opened at Greensboro, North Carolina and at Pittman Plaza, in Lynchburg, Virginia. Many of these locations were designed by noted Charlotte-based architect Martin Evans Boyers.

The original cafeterias were located in busy downtown areas, often located near bustling theater and shopping areas. The early locations were quite opulent (designed in Art Deco style) and were the site of numerous local business and political gatherings. During the 1960s–1970s, as suburban shopping centers opened and downtowns declined, S&W followed the trend by closing their downtown locations. In 1964, 16 locations were in operation. Into the 1990s, the mainstay clientele were the elderly who appreciated the home-style meals at low prices.