Area representatives, store personnel and media participate in a ribbon-cutting during the Ringgold, Ga., Taco Bell’s grand reopening Thursday morning.RINGGOLD, Ga. – Terry Bennett stood in the middle of the crowded tables and glanced around at newly finished orange walls and chatty customers Thursday morning. The smell of tacos – with a hint of fresh paint – floated through the air.
Yellow confetti and purple stars hanging from the ceiling greeted local residents and city officials as they walked through the Taco Bell doors.
Just nine weeks ago, Bennett, a Taco Bell manager, had hauled his employees into the kitchen cooler and led guests in the building to the women’s bathroom as an F4 tornado ripped through the restaurant.
Now the manager was celebrating the restaurant’s reopening – the first of the heavily damaged businesses in the Ringgold area to reopen.
“It’s closure,” he said, his eyes darting around the room. “I never thought I’d see this.”