TUCSON, Ariz. — On the corner of Pennington St. and Scott Ave. you can dine outside at Cafe 54, Urban Fresh and Raptor Canyon Cafe. Pima County and the Downtown Tucson Partnership provided the cafes the grants that made this possible.
“They told us about the grants that were available to improve outdoor dining. So we teamed up with Urban Fresh and Cafe 54, and we pooled our grant money to build the Pennington Street Outdoor Food Court,” said Dennis Calello, the manager and co-owner of Raptor Canyon Cafe.
Callelo said this took the cafes two weekends to fully put together.
“My landlord owns this area and allowed us to set the food court up here, rent free. We're really looking to improve the options for outdoor dining in our general area. And it's worked out great. Some afternoons its very full, people love to eat outside in Tucson. So we're lucky that we were able to have this all done,” said Calello.
And Calello said the outdoor food court has gotten great feedback from their customers.
“Very positive. People love the feel of it. It’s kind of nice that customers have the option of vegan food at Urban Fresh, breakfast and lunch at our restaurant and great lunches at Cafe 54. And we're very happy with how it turned out and we're happy to still be in business. We just wish there were more people down here, so eventually we'll get back.,” said Calello.
For more information on the Downtown Tucson Partnership, click here.
