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Rosepepper Cantina chooses to stay closed during phase one

rosepepper
Posted at 5:17 PM, May 19, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-19 19:18:27-04

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Phase one of Davidson County reopening allows restaurants to open their dining area at a 50% capacity, but some restaurants are choosing to keep their dining rooms closed.

The business owners of Rosepepper Cantina say they’re not in a rush to reopen their dining area and until they feel confident that they can do it safely. They plan to stick with online orders and carry-out.

"It's been a lot of identifying where touch points are and working to eliminate them," said Andrea Chaires, vice president of Rosepepper.

COVID-19 has changed the way Chaires manages her business.

"We went from doing about 3% carry out to 100% carry out," Chaires said. "It has been a real learning curve."

They’ve had their dining area closed since March.

"Right now we're quite not ready to reopen," said Chaires. "I’d be lying if I’d said I wasn’t thinking is there a potential of having to close again if we rush to reopen and lots of people start to get sick because we didn’t think through how will we have people inside the building. I don’t want that to happen."

Chaires is using this time to get creative. They plan to open the patio sometime soon, but need to make some structural changes first.

"We have to build entrance and exit from patio so people aren’t having to walk through the building," said Chaires.

There isn’t a timeline on when they will reopen and Chaires is OK with that. She said you can’t rush when it comes to health and safety.