Photo by Tyler Nelson
Caitlin Cullen in front of The Tandem.
With uncertainty palpably in the air, The Tandem (1848 W. Fond Du Lac Ave.) owner Caitlin Cullen is perfectly calm saying she’s most likely going out of business. When most would batten down the hatches and brace for impact, she’s giving it all away.
“We started doing it just to get rid of perishables in the basement and kind of help folks in our neighborhood,” says Cullen, standing on the sidewalk in front of her restaurant in the Johnson Park neighborhood, where she’s been in business since 2016. “I posted something just so people around here would know, and we got rid of 85 meals in less than three hours.”
News travels fast online – especially during a quarantine – and people started seeing Cullen’s post and asking if they could help or donate. She now has a donation button on the restaurant’s website so people can contribute.
“It’s a really precarious time, so we’re going to keep making meals as long as people keep donating,” says Cullen. “We plan on making around 150 meals between 11 and 4 every day.”
Cullen says she cut her 27-member staff on Monday night and the business is now operating with just five people. She saw that her business was most likely going to fail and decided to “run it ‘til the wheels fall off.”
She’s asking (at least in the first few days) for people that actually need the help to call in for a free meal, but the more donations they get, the longer this will last.
