Local restaurant owner Sean Alexander says he’s found early success with his new venture in Chattanooga’s North Shore after pivoting from a failing salad restaurant with a rebrand.
Zeekz House of Gyros opened its doors Oct. 3, the same day the Walnut Street Bridge reopened after an 18-month closure. Alexander said he profited more on that first day than he would have in a week from his previous venture at that location, Build-A-Salad, which closed Aug. 4.
“We were doing like 150, 200 people a day,” Alexander said of Build-A-Salad’s early days. “And then it went to, like, zero the next, like on a Saturday. And then on Sunday, we did, like, five people or something like that. Then, like, the next whole week we didn’t even do a customer.”
Alexander blamed the summer lettuce scare, caused by the multistate outbreak of cyclospora illnesses, for Build-A-Salad’s loss of clientele. Nearby local businesses that offer salad bars for a cheaper price also affected his restaurant’s success from the start, he said in an interview.
Instead of jumping ship on the property or waiting out the lettuce scare, Alexander took two months to rebrand and change the location’s business model.