The Buttered Tin announces temporary closure after positive staff COVID-19 test (+ happy update!)

OCTOBER 2ND UPDATE! Good News! The Buttered Tin is back open, after enough staff tests came back negative to have enough people to run the cafe!

October 2nd social media posting from The Buttered Tin. They had announced the previous evening that they would reopen.

ORIGINAL POST: The Buttered Tin announces temporary closure after positive staff COVID-19 test

The original post. Click to enlarge.

By Nigel Parry, Lowertown.info—At 7pm tonight, September 26th, local cafe and bakery The Buttered Tin posted an announcement titled “We are temporarily closing” on its website and social media after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

The staff member had become aware of exposure to a positive room mate, and had self-quarantined from work during this last week while awaiting their test result. A few hours after finding out the positive result, the Buttered Tin informed staff it would be closing and made the public announcement:

At The Buttered Tin, our highest priority if the health and safety of our customers and employees. We are reaching out to inform you that today, we learned that a member of our TBT team tested positive COVID-19.

Out of an abundance of caution, The Buttered Tin will temporarily close beginning Sunday, Sept. 27th. We expect this service disruption to be temporary, but remain committed to the highest protocols for food safety and sanitation. While our staff is being tested, we are deep cleaning and sanitizing our restaurant top to bottom in order to ensure the health and safety of our team and guest. We will not reopen until every member of our staff has received negative results.

If you have current catering and bakery orders during this temporary closing period, please know that we will contact you individually.

All of us at The Buttered Tin are so grateful for you loyal and unwavering support. We are privileged to offer eats and sweets to our community and look forward to serving you again soon.

The Buttered Tin is one of several Lowertown food and drink establishments that reacted early, comprehensively, and transparently since the pandemic took hold of Minnesota last March. In the words of one staff member, “We walk into the restaurant with a mask and don’t take it off until we leave.”

Hopefully this story—which the current reported virus surge suggests is about to become just one story of many—will end well. In the meantime, best wishes to the Buttered Tin staff, and remember to wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands often, avoid large gatherings, and keep necessary trips around town as short as possible.