by Bailey Basham, Messenger Staff Writer

After more than 20 years on the Mountain and 10 in business as the owner of OctoPi and formerly Ivy Wild, Kerry Downing Moser is packing up and moving to Huntsville to pursue work with wine.

In November, Moser accepted a position as the general manager of Church Street Wine Shoppe, a wine retail, wine bar and tapas restaurant. She has since been splitting her time between Sewanee and Huntsville.

“I have no plans to close OctoPi. I will continue to run the business for as long as I am able. Obviously, that’s a challenge given that I am working six days a week in Huntsville, but I have an amazing staff of professionals who run OctoPi, and they are doing a great job,” she said. “About a year ago I started getting serious about studying wine. In March, I will complete my advanced third level certification in the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, which is a path many sommeliers take. A larger city is going to have more learning and working opportunities for a serious wine professional.”

Luckily for fans of OctoPi’s wood-fired pizza and wine bar, Moser has no plans to close the restaurant any time soon. The restaurant is for sale and the 5,300-square-foot old steam laundry building is for sale. “Anne Chenoweth Deutsch with Village Real Estate will be the agent representing me for the sale of the old steam laundry building,” said Moser.

“The entire building has infinite possibilities, and is zoned for mixed-use. There is an approximately 3,000-square-foot restaurant and a 2,300-square-foot open, loft-style apartment with two bedrooms, and an upstairs loft we use as a third bedroom. There are two full bathrooms plus another half bath in the apartment,” she said.

Moser, along with Jimmy Wilson, was responsible for getting liquor-by-the-drink licenses for downtown Sewanee from the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

Moser said with all the plans the University has to develop the commercial district, there are plenty of exciting possibilities for the location.

“I really want another business owner to benefit from all the work Jimmy Wilson and I did to get the license. There are only three establishments currently qualified to have the license, The Blue Chair, Shenanigans and my place. That license is critical for the financial success of most restaurants. The way the law is written, any new businesses that come along are not legally able to have one. I’d hate to see Sewanee lose one of those precious licenses. My hope is that someone will buy the business and keep it going, either in its current pizza iteration or as something new.”

OctoPi is located at 36 Ball Park Rd., Sewanee. For more information, visit https://www.octopisewanee.com/.