A Happy (and Sad) New Year’s Message
Dear Dot 2 Dot fans, aficionados, and loyal customers,
I want to say a very big thank you for your support during a time that has brought so many businesses to their knees. We have enjoyed offering you take-out dinners, brunches, pre-theater dinners, special event catering - anything from bridal showers, to birthday lunches, wedding breakfasts, baby showers, Christmas parties, graduation dinners, election celebrations, red carpet after-parties, and a very famous author’s birthday party. We could not have done any of this without your input, support, and desire to use Dot 2 Dot as the backdrop to your special celebration.
Many of you have enjoyed the brunches so much that they gathered enough momentum to be a regular feature on our calendar. We are very grateful to you for bringing friends and introducing them to my culinary fare - because that alone speaks volumes. I have received amazing feedback on the dinners followed by many requests to be put on the mailing list for whatever the next event might be.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It is, therefore, with great regret that I must inform you that, for the foreseeable future, we will not be allowed to offer any of these events. For the last two years, we have been working with the City of Eatonton to adjust our zoning to formally give us the right to operate as a restaurant. We are zoned residential, but the City- seeing the value of a high-end event venue in Eatonton- wanted to find a solution. The City Administrator pointed to a zoning review, now underway, as the appropriate vehicle to make this happen.
Unfortunately, an ‘anonymous complaint’ has led the City to serve us a violation with an immediate “cease and desist” with respect to any more on-site events. This is not a noise or parking issue - we have always been very careful to engage with our neighbors to make sure that they do not feel imposed upon. We are hoping that an appeal to the City Council to modify the zoning code will help us to re-open. At a time when the City is trying to encourage more businesses to open, we hope that ours will not be forced to close because of a technicality that they have the power to fix.
We will look at putting together a petition and you can certainly play a part in this. For now, watch this space as we try to navigate keeping the business financially viable.
I think it would be fair to say that Dot 2 Dot offers a unique dining experience - you, our loyal customers, have enjoyed eating gourmet meals in an historic home, attended events with a backdrop of 2 acres of manicured gardens, and had the opportunity to capture memories from specially catered parties. It was always my intention to ‘share’ our home in this way - I enjoy what I do and feeding people creates a common language of goodwill. Breaking bread together is the first step towards a conversation that can lead to so many other things. I truly hope that we can continue to create these experiences and that we have your support going forward.
