After hearing about the pending closure of Graylynn, a restaurant/bar that I had personally come to enjoy, I reached out to owner Tim Stevens to see what was going on.
Stevens told me that the perfect storm had arisen, which came about when he and two of his employees at Lucky Day – Adam Nugent and Matt Santasiero – got to talking about potential business ideas. It turns out that Stevens had been looking to scale back from owning three restaurants (including Ballyhoo) to two. Nugent and Santasiero proposed that they would like to open a new concept of their own, which is when Stevens offered up Graylynn as a turnkey space.
“It’s the most ideal situation on so many levels,” said Stevens. “When you have a hand of cards, sometimes in order to win you have to discard something. For me to close Graylynn, and to hand over the keys to two of my employees is a big win for everyone – me, the owner of the building, and my two employees, which I will be sad to see go. At the same time, we are going to work together, since they will be right across Main Street. They will be bringing an entirely new concept to the space, with a new name.”
Stevens told me that, ultimately, this was a personal decision that he did not hesitate to make. When he was afforded the opportunity to slim down to two restaurants he knew that this was his chance to do so. To that end, he expressed his utmost confidence in Nugent and Santasiero, who both have a ton of experience in the restaurant business…