Rose Petals Café and Lounge celebrates 1st anniversary

 Jania Daniels (right) and staff get ready for business on Rose Petals Cafe's first anniversary Wednesday. (Brian Hickey/WHYY)

Jania Daniels (right) and staff get ready for business on Rose Petals Cafe's first anniversary Wednesday. (Brian Hickey/WHYY)

Stolen balloons didn’t get them down.

On Wednesday, Desmin and Jania Daniels celebrated the first anniversary of opening Rose Petals Café and Lounge with rose petals scattered across the restaurant floor, a new lunch menu and “Happy Anniversary” balloons tied to chairs inside.

Granted, a collection of 30 balloons tied to a parking meter outside the West Chelten Avenue were swiped about an hour before the 11 a.m. opening, but that mattered little as customers were greeted with news of the momentous occasion.

“Today also marks our eighth wedding anniversary,” said Jania Daniels. “Marriage is a leap of faith, deciding who you want to be with for the rest of your life. Rose Petals has something similar to that, what we can do and bring to the neighborhood for a lifetime.”

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Celebrating life

That parallel is fitting for the Daniels’, teachers by trade who decided to follow their entrepreneurial dreams after Desmin’s 27-year-old sister was murdered in Mt. Airy. That made them realize how life can change in an instant, he said.

The restaurant, located at 322 W. Chelten Ave., bears her name.

The city’s inaugural InStore forgivable loan program recipient, Jania Daniels said the business side of things are going well.

“It’s picked up a lot during the week, and we had a record number of people for a Tuesday yesterday,” she said. “On the weekends, we have three or four turns of the restaurant, which is great. We’re still trying to bring that energy to the week, but I can’t complain.”

 

 

 

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