To combat COVID-19 bar closures, Deep Ellum’s Bottled Blonde has rebranded itself as a pizzeria | Via @bottledblondedtx on Instagram

Last month, Deep Ellum bar Bottled Blonde was the subject of controversy following their re-opening and re-branding as a pizzeria. During the first weekend of their re-opening, videos of people not adhering to social-distancing guidelines surfaced online. Following this, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission launched an investigation into Bottled Blonde. After people from TABC and City of Dallas Code Compliance visited the bar-turned-pizzeria over the past few weeks, they found that Bottled Blonde was not in violation of COVID-19 safety guidelines.

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Several guests and passerbys have noted that people were not maintaining a 6-foot distance from each other while in line or inside Bottled Blonde. While there were guidelines in place, employees of Bottled Blonde have said these guidelines are difficult to enforce.

“For being a very popular place, we do have security outside that enforces 6-foot social distancing in line,” said Bottled Blonde assistant manager Mike Massoff to Dallas Morning News. “You can manage that as much as you can, but it’s very tough to tell people what to do while they’re not inside your establishment.”

Bottled Blonde will continue to operate at a supposed “50 percent capacity.”