MEMPHIS, Tennessee — It’s already been a trying time for restaurants in Memphis, from COVID-19 restrictions and fighting to stay open in a pandemic, but one business owner said they’re being resilient in the face of this latest impact.
Silky O' Sullivan’s opened for the first time Friday this week due to snowy conditions and they’re already facing a new hurdle when it comes to prepping food and serving customers.
“We’ve been boiling water all day, we’ve been preparing bringing in more bottled water more canned soda pop,” said Joellyn Sullivan, the owner of Silky's.
Sullivan said they’re prepared to abide by the recent boil water advisory for Shelby County and stay open for diners.
“It’s very easy for us to put saran wrap around the juice guns, turn off the ice machine and that sort of thing.”
MLGW issued a boil water advisory Thursday due to low water pressure on MLGW's water system and water main breaks. The utility company asked all customers to boil water for at least three minutes.
“One more adventure, one more thing," said Sullivan. "We’re resilient, that’s the Memphis business community. That’s Memphis restaurants.”
“All of their feedback was adopted into this last health directive but what a gut punch that the snowstorm hit that the boil water advisory was issued by MLGW for the first time,” said Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris.
Owners like Sullivan are still relieved to see health directive 18 go into effect Saturday allowing businesses to stay open two hours later.
“You’ve got to be able to respond to a changing environment and you just never know which way it’s going to go,” said Sullivan.
MLGW says it doesn’t have a firm date on when the advisory will be lifted. They say they’ll notify customers when it’s no longer necessary to boil water.