SAN JOSE, C.A. (NCC News) – After nearly eight weeks, San Pedro Square Market in downtown San Jose, California has opened their doors to the public.
The restaurants are available for take-out and delivery options. As of right now, only 15 vendors in the market can open and are considered essential businesses. Tara Santurri, the head of marketing for San Pedro Square Market, says health and safety was their number one priority before opening.
“We have hourly cleaning and extra cleaning precautions,” Santurri said. “We’ve got a lot of decals to make sure you keep your 6 feet away. We have new signage created to make sure you wear your mask. Everything is contact-less and cashless.”
The market also has thermal cameras that does body temperature readings for anyone entering the building.
Pasta Fresca, an Italian restaurant in the market, has seen a 90% drop in business the first week since opening up. Shawn McKenna, the owner of Pasta Fresca, says his business received an Economic Injury Disaster loan and federal aid through the Paycheck Protection Plan.
“I would’ve been ecstatic if business had only dropped off by 80% or 75%,” McKenna said. “I’d consider that a success opening right now. So it’s less than what I hoped for and need to keep going but I think it’s ultimately going to get there but it’s a question of how long.”
With the new health and safety guidelines, businesses have been forced to adjust to these changes, including Pasta Fresca. Changes include working with delivery apps, cooking to-go and delivery meals and creating an online presence that appeals to customers.
“You have to change your business model,” Santurri said. “You have to do business differently. A lot of our merchants are all mom and paps and very small and some of them don’t have an online presence. They don’t have websites or social media. With running marketing I’m working with all of those individual merchants to make sure that they have an online presence. Photos to make sure that their food is attractive because right now people are buying with their eyes.”
Santurri offers biweekly photo sessions so McKenna and other owners can have photos of their food for their websites and social media accounts.
