As I have spoken about in previous posts, Hagerstown is a tough restaurant market.  Restauranteurs and corporations look at the I-70/I-81 interchange, run the numbers, and seem to come away with the impression that their concept just “can’t miss” in this area.

If it were only that simple.

Here in the dining trenches; however, it’s a different story.  If you are from anywhere in the four-state area, then you probably already know that locals want food they are familiar with, they want big portions, and they want low prices.  Period.

Middle to upper-tier restaurants just don’t do well in this demographic.  If you are a restaurant looking to expand and your entrees start in the $15-$20 range, then let me save everyone at Corporate Headquarters some time and money and say don’t bother to even open your doors in Washington County.  Go east, young man.  Frederick County and beyond is for you.  Oh, sure, every now and then there are exceptions (like the county’s strange obsession with all things ‘Olive Garden’), but most of the time?  I fear I’m spot on in my assessment.

We recently lost two restaurants at the Valley Mall shopping area – the Rustic Barrel and the Stone Wall Tavern.  Not that both of them didn’t have their own problems and issues (other than the market).

The ‘Stone Wall Tavern’ was trying for a second time to make a go of it (following their first failure and the short lived ‘Family Meal’ concept), but they successfully proved what happens when an establishment offers higher price-point food at a low service level.  It spells disaster.  I also don’t know who thought that tucking a restaurant behind a strip mall containing a ‘Toys-R-Us’, mattress store, and liquor store was a good idea, but put all of these things together and it spelled “locked doors”.  Maybe they can turn it into a discount warehouse for used restaurant furniture.

The ‘Rustic Barrel’ was a whole different story.  Formerly a ‘Tilted Kilt’ franchise (which featured lots of waitresses in tartan skirts, belly-button piercings, and apparently a contest to see who could show off the most body tattoos), the owner quickly switched over to the ‘Rustic Barrel’ branding last November, trying to revive sluggish sales.  If you’ve read any of the recent local newspaper articles, then you also know that the owner of this establishment also seems to have had some financial and legal quandaries, like paying rent, falsifying liquor licenses (allegedly), and other assorted infractions.

Other than those obvious issues, the problem here wasn’t location – good grief, they had a marquee spot on the front side of the mall – no, for me, this eatery had two additional issues working against it.  One, it was huge.  There was no way they were ever going to fill up that dining space with patrons other than on Saturdays and Sundays during football season (and even then, probably not that often).  Secondly, the food just wasn’t that great.  I never heard anyone say “ohh, those burgers at ‘Rustic Barrel’ are the bomb!  I’m craving one right now”.  The signs are still lit up at night, but trust me – the ‘Rustic Barrel’ is history.

So what’s next?

Well, ‘BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse’ is currently being built at the old Sear’s Auto Service location across the parking lot from the mall.  If you’ve driven by there recently, then you know someone is dropping a ton of money into that renovation.  I checked out their website to see their offerings.  Now, I’m not a prognosticator, but I see a tough road ahead – and for a number of reasons.

First, there’s the menu.  It’s twenty-two pages long.  161 items.  They offer everything from hand-crafted sodas to deep dish pizzas.  There’s also steaks, burgers, salads, tacos, flatbreads, and wings (as well as many other choices).  I’ve said it before – you can’t have that many offerings on a menu and do them all well.  The more choices – the more chances for failure.  Sure, you can try to reinvent mac-n-cheese by tossing in some Brussel sprouts or cauliflower, but in the end?  It’s just mac-n-cheese.  It better be awfully good if you’re going to charge someone $4.95 for it as a side dish.  BJ’s also offers a “Peruvian Quinoa Bowl” on the menu.  Now, I might order that, but Amos, Charlene, and their three kids are not going to, and that spells trouble.  I see a lot of quinoa stacking up in that stock room’s future.

That brings me to the second issue.  Price point.  $18.50 for shrimp scampi pasta?[1]  $22.95 for a twelve-inch deep-dish pizza?  Know your market, friends – because that’s just not gonna fly for the majority of people in Washington County.  At those prices, both the food and the service are going to have to be pretty spectacular to build up a regular clientele.

Lastly, I see that since BJ’s has the name “brewhouse” in it, they are going to offer hand-crafted beers and ciders.  Their website lists fourteen choices of house-made libations.  Hate to break it to them, but they are a little late to the party when it comes to micro-brewing in Washington County, or for that matter – anywhere.  It’s no longer “unique”.  There are plenty of places in the four-state region to get a hand-crafted, local beer these days (that doesn’t cost between $6 to $9 a serving), so when I hear “they make their own beer”, my first reaction is – “meh” (and I’m a big fan of beer).

I hope I’m wrong (because I crave some middle to higher-end dining choices locally), but time will tell.  I wish BJ’s all the luck in the world, because the restaurant business is a cut-throat enterprise.

What are your thoughts on the local dining scene?  Drop me a comment below!

 

 

 

 

 

[1] According to their website – https://www.bjsrestaurants.com/