Cereal Competition
Originally published at boostventilator.com. You can comment here or there.
Lovers of 24-hour restaurant service will be united in their grief as the closing of The Apple Barrel at 1726 Grafton finally sinks in. The long-standing downtown staple closed its doors last Monday and no one was more disappointed than the restaurant’s owner of 10 years, Bryan Bridgemohan. “The drop in our sales last year was drastic,” says Bridgemohan. “It really wasn’t worth keeping open.” He says a number of reasons exist for the restaurant’s decline. For a start, there are simply too many downtown bars and restaurants competing for such a small number of potential customers. “After five o’clock, there’s isn’t much of a draw for people downtown if they’re not at work,” he says. Bridgemohan also mentions declining attendance at Mooseheads games as having a negative impact on his restaurant’s business. But while The Apple Barrel may be closed, Bridgemohan is not ready to give up yet. “I’m opening a new restaurant in the same location,” he says. “It will be called The Candy Apple Cereal Bar and 24-Hour Restaurant.” Similar to other buffets, the cereal bar will allow customers to combine up to three different kinds of cereals in containers Bridgemohan compares to Chinese-food boxes. Fruit toppings will also be available. Bridgemohan says the new restaurant is slated to open on March 1, after the space undergoes renovations for the first time in 20 years-something The Apple Barrel was in need of. “We’re keeping the restaurant as a 24-hour establishment because we know how to do it well,” he says.
From The Coast’s Shop Talk column (February 08, 2007).
Hmm…sounds familiar. Well, here’s to Cereal Solidarity.