MILWAUKEE – With hundreds of thousands of people planning to visit and stay in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, restaurant owners are bracing for the influx of potential customers.
Sweet Connie’s Cafe is a bakery in Downtown Milwaukee’s Deer District that will officially open in the fall. Regardless of not having their brick-and-mortar available, Head Chef and Co-Owner Consuela Towns described what she and fellow Co-Owner Shelley Wiley are feeling: “… intimidation, because this is our first business that we are opening together. It is a lot of learning, but we are excited.”
Wiley said the interest in their business is already building ahead of the RNC.
“We are waiting for a contract for the RNC to cater their breakfast and brunch around that time. We don’t know how many days or exactly what they want in the end, but we have spoken with a few people who expressed interest.”
Down the street from Connie’s is Taco Mike’s, a Mexican restaurant on the corner of State St. and Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. Owner Jerodd Taylor said he has been part of the business for less than a year but can feel the anticipation coming from his employees.
“Me and another owner plan on working those four days of the event and being on-site,” Taylor said. “So there is a lot of excitement. My staff is excited for the overtime and the extra hours because we plan on going late.”
Both Taco Mike’s and Sweet Connie’s Bakery are in the Vehicle Screening Perimeter, the area of Downtown Milwaukee where security will be heightened but pedestrian traffic will still be allowed.
On the other side of I-794 in the Third Ward, other business owners don’t feel the same way. Boone and Crockett owner Emily Dell Revord told our partners at TMJ 4 News they do not plan on making changes.
“We are foregoing all RNC events and we’re going to do our own thing,” said Dell Revord. “…events that support organizations that we support.”
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The RNC will be in Milwaukee from July 15th-18th. Enforcement of the Vehicle Screening Perimeter will begin July 14th at 6 p.m.