The Main Cup gears up for a big rennovation
Restaurant Expansion
By: Meghan Burket
Middletown, Md. is nestled in a valley and The Main Cup is a small restaurant that has created a lot of buzz for such a quiet town. Quaint and cozy, Main Cup has been an established restaurant for five years. The restaurant has been so popular that the owner has announced he will be expanding his business, attaching the current restaurant to another building. Main Cup is one of few restaurants in Middletown located on Main Street. Main Cup offers a variety of American cuisine, along with coffee and espresso drinks. Not only is the establishment convenient for Middletown residents it is also affordable, with average prices around $15 per entrée with extensive menu choices.
The Main Cup was originally called Main’s. The building has existed for over 100 years. Main’s was a meat market and an ice cream shop where many Middletown natives visited through the years. When Main’s closed the building was left vacant for several years before the owner, Bob Brenegan bought the building and decided to create a coffee shop. The coffee shop was successful and customers wanted more, so Brenegan evolved the coffee shop into a full service restaurant and bar that currently seats 140 people at maximum occupancy.
The popularity has continued, and now Brenegan will expand the Main Cup into a vacant space that will add 1,500 square feet and an additional 60 seats to create a full service restaurant and bar for live entertainment. The Main Cup has been projected to re-open for services in the middle of January, pending all renovations are on schedule.
Brenegan has always wanted to expand his eating place if business warranted it. Brenegan owns a few buildings on Main Street where his restaurant is located. Owning the buildings made a difference for Brenegan because he is able to dictate what space he was interested in using for his project. The owner recognized there were limitations to the current restaurant and knew he needed a way to keep up with the restaurant’s reputation. The entrepreneur believed his expansion was a way to “defend against new restaurants” popping up in Middletown.
The reconstruction of the building will mean a lot of changes for the business. “ It’s about efficiency, I compare to when I first opened and I did everything on the cheap because everything was new and I was taking a chance and I totally beat the odds, so know I am taking the opportunity to expand on what we are doing,” the proud owner said.
Customers used to have to wait for a table for two hours on busy weekend nights. An exciting change will be the ability to serve more customers efficiently, Brenegan discussed happily. Needless to say, customers are thrilled about the upcoming expansion, except they question the owner’s ability to work much more, Brenegan said.
Brenegan participates in all aspects of the restaurants components.100 hours is what Brenegan usually clocks by the end of the week; he is involved in the cooking, cleaning, and management seven days a week, from breakfast service to dinner service. “I can’t work anymore hours,” Brenegan said resignedly. “The business will be at economies of scale after the expansion, so I will be able to hire another manager to work for me,” Brenegan continued optimistically.
Brennegan is excited to have “new cool stuff.” He loves the lighting in the new room where live musicians will perform. Now there will be an opportunity to have up to 150 customers watching a variety of different bands on a Saturday night, the owner said with a grin.
Not only is Main Cup staff anticipating the expansion, Becky Reich, Main Street coordinator is thrilled. She believes the expansion will be a great service to Main Street in Middletown. She thinks the restaurants success will rub off on other small business within its vicinity. “The hope is when you have dinner at Main Cup, after dinner you will stroll down Main Street and visit our other businesses, we have great shopping next door, so the more people that can go to that restaurant, the more people will visit other businesses,” Reich said.
The opening of the Main Cup five years ago has already caused excitement for Middletown residents. Reich reminisces saying, “Everyone was really excited because it is an old building and a lot of people have memories of coming to Main Cup to eat ice cream, the restoration of the building really created a buzz.”
It turns out the expansion of Main Cup may be causing a little too much excitement. The town may have to make some accommodations for more people to navigate around Main Street easier. Reich discussed the possibility of adding clear directional signs to the public parking that Middletown already has.
Kim Metzner, a regular customer, is looking forward to the expansion, so that she can be more comfortable dining on busy nights. Metzner has been coming to the Main Cup for around five years and her favorite meal has always been the Mahi Mahi. “All the waitresses know that’s what I want they don’t even bother asking me anymore,” Metzner said with a sigh.
Metzner claims that Brenegan needs more help after his expansion is complete. She said that every time she dines at the Main Cup he is always present. “He always looks tired. I just don’t see how he will run an even larger restaurant without another manager,” Metzner said.
The manager of the restaurant, Ashley Sheffler, was as optimistic as the owner. Sheffler has been managing Main Cup for three years. She realized her job will be quite different after the expansion. Sheffler discussed the increased volume would cause a need for reorganization of wait stations and schedules to promote efficiency. “Extra square footage requires extra employees and it’s important to redesign positions to provide the best food and service we can,” Sheffler said.
Sheffler expects to see a lot more variety in personalities throughout the staff because she will be hiring more people. There will be clearer policies in place in terms of requesting time off and scheduling changes. Although, Sheffler does not think current employees will have a difficult time adjusting to the change. “Most of the employees are excited for the change. At this point, we are all ready for it,” she said confidently.
Daniel Cahall, Main Cup’s chef had a lot of planning to do during the initial steps of the expansion process. Cahall was a key player in the menu selection along with the kitchen reconstruction. The kitchen will be transformed into a much larger area to accommodate up to 60 more dining seats in the restaurant, Cahall stated. The chef discussed the details of the kitchens transformation; a stove top, grill space, and expanded dish area will allow cooking to be a lot faster. Storage in the kitchen has also been a pressing issue, so the restaurant will add a walk in fridge. The walk in refrigerator will allow catering to become a possibility. Everything will run smoother in the entire restaurant once the kitchen is reconstructed to handle the business, Cahall excitedly said.
The kitchen staff will also be taken into account during the expansion. Due to the kitchen becoming so much larger, the chef will need to hire more people to work for him. Cahall said he plans to add at least two more employees to each shift, which he thinks means hiring at least four more employees’ total.
Brigid Stokes, a tall, bubbly waitress at the Main Cup is excited for the expansion because she believes it will be a great benefit to her financially. The opportunity to have more people in the building at one time allows a greater chance to make more money, she said with a giggle. Stokes has been working at the Main Cup for five years. She has seen a lot of regular customers, and according to her, the restaurant will see a lot of new faces after the expansion because people will be curious. Regular customers have been ecstatic about the expansion because they enjoy seeing a local restaurant be successful, Stokes smiled.
The waitress is excited for a change of scenery and a change of pace, but she is also worried that the transition period could be rough because there are so many veteran employees. “So many of us have worked here for so long and have gotten used to the rhythm of the restaurant now,” she said warily.
Middletown’s quite valley is certainly going to be bustling after the expansion of Main Cup is completed. People in Middletown have enjoyed seeing a historical building take on many different forms. Sheffler said, “I remember when the current restaurant was a meat market and ice cream shop long ago, and it has been really cool to see the building evolve in so many ways.”
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