ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Small businesses and restaurants have had to go through a seemingly endless cycle of closures and reopenings, and restrictions. Brixens in Downtown Albuquerque is a testament to that having been closed seven months during the pandemic.
“Go big or go home and we don’t want to go home,” said Chef and Owner, Tanya Sanchez. Over the past few months, Sanchez has had to change everything.
“We had to revamp our menu, we had to revamp how we served things, how we communicated with our guests,” said Sanchez. First, Brixens went strictly take out and delivery, then they tried a drive-thru method but it wasn’t enough to sustain them.
“We just tried to be creative and utilize different solutions,” said Sanchez. With outdoor dining now allowed, Sanchez decided that is their best bet.
“Even though outdoor dining is going to be a little bit of a stretch for us, it’s going to pose it’s own unique challenges for us, we figured that we have to do it,” said Sanchez.
While they put together plans on the patio and paperwork their doors will have to completely close again. “It’s depleting all of the funds that we have to work with,” said Sanchez.
Losing money while they spend it. They are planning to wrap a patio around their entire building adding 1,500 sq feet of outdoor dining space. Opening up room for 99 customers to spread out safely.
“We don’t want our guests to think we’ve closed or that we’ve given up it’s actually quite the opposite we’re doing everything we can to survive,” said Sanchez. Right now, there is no set word on when Brixens will reopen but they hope no later than 12 weeks.
