A July 29, 2020 open letter from a group of restaurant business

professionals to Dr. Alisa Haushalter, head of the Shelby County Health

Department.

Dear Director Haushalter,

We hope that you, your family, and your colleagues are safe during these unprecedented
and stressful times.

We understand the herculean task that faces you and your organization and we appreciate
the thankless efforts you continue to make in your effort to keep Shelby County safe for
everyone while keeping our industry and its workforce as sustainable as it can be.

We feel that the Memphis Restaurant Association leadership has not been willing or able to
share with you the unique challenges facing the independent sector of our industry. Despite
our many attempts to work with the MRA to develop a platform that represents the needs
and positions of our independent owners and those in our employ, we have collectively
made the decision to reach out to you directly to offer some insight as to what our thoughts
and concerns are, and, if you’ll take it, an offer to be of assistance as you navigate this
crisis in the upcoming months. We, like all business owners, want to keep our employees
safe and financially secure, our guests safe and fed, and our businesses sustainable. We
are eager to work with you so we can, together, achieve that goal. We’ve outlined our
positions below.

 We would like to get clear science based guidelines consistent with CDC
recommendations and follow them.

 We recognize the value of wearing masks and fully support the order that requires it. We
also feel that promoting and adhering to the mask order is in fact being pro-small
business.

 While we support the occupancy restrictions placed on restaurants we would like you to
explore the possibility of full service restaurants being able to utilize their bar areas to
serve meals while adhering to the social distancing, alcohol restrictions and time
restraint directives that are currently in place (even if more stringent than the regulations
at tables). For some of us these bar areas constitute a large percentage of our available
seating and are vital for our ability to remain open.

 Regular testing is vital for our industry, as our contact with large amounts of people at
distances closer than recommended is high. Our employees need to have access to
same day testing appointments and same day results so we can utilize more effectively
and fully commit to our role in the current county wide contact tracing program. A
program we fully support.
  We understand that following protocol set forth is the only way to see our businesses
and the jobs they create and support (both internally and through the chain of supplies
and entertainment that we symbiotically count on) survive.

We do not envy the position you are in and are all very much aware that the needs of your
various constituencies can be quite different and sometimes contradictory. We do feel that
we could be a strong asset to you when you do have to make decisions that affect our
businesses and employees and our ability to fulfill our obligation to help keep the public
healthy and nourished.

We are all in this together and we stand willing and eager to help you in any way that you
may see fit.

Respectfully,

Anna Blair

Craig Blondis

Karen Carrier

Colleen DePete & José Gutierrez

Kelly English

Michael Hudman

Tina Jennings

Jaquila & Erling Jensen

Wally Joe

John Littlefield

Jonathan Magallanes

Michael Patrick

Tamra Patterson

Ronald Payne
Deni & Patrick Reilly

Roger Sapp

Rebecca & Jason Severs

Ben Smith

Bert Smythe

Andy Ticer

Bala Tounkara

Ryan Trimm

John Vergos

Felicia Willet