Baxter Station going on the market soon

f.y.i. ... baxter station will be on the market soon... the property as well as the business... i have been doing it for 21 years... high quality food... reasonable prices... good and friendly service.... please do not construe this as sour grapes... but this simply would not be a " foodie town" if it werent for deano, maggie, pabs, kathy, siobhan and michael, nancy, doug,, bruce, tim, christopher,, len and nancy, etc.
we have all been in business fifteen plus years... ... we all laid the foundation for the food scene that is louisville today...
people in the ville chase trends... where is 'social' now ??? closed after two years... hottest place in the ville... gone...primo... gone... long time mainstays... going...
i have never cut corners on quality... nor do i need to chase the half price wine crowd... when mine are marked up a reasonable 90% and sold at that price everyday we are open.
if we had population growth here??? continued city subsidies to out of town corporations ??? WRONG!!!
grants to redo the side walks in nulu? amazing... next sunday... i will be renting a jackhammer to knock out my front side walk and then pour concrete on monday on my dime...
i have a breakfast menu prepared and ready to put in place to generate income... flipping coins daily to decide... it involves a capital investment to make it work and i cant reconcile the expense...
best... andrew

I'm sorry you're having such troubles, Andrew. My wife and I have eaten at Baxter Station a couple of times and loved it. IMO, you're among the very best in Louisville.

That said, our dining budget is limited and there are so many options in town, with new ones opening all the time, it's hard not to mix it up and enjoy the diversity.

I have wondered lately whether all the new restaurant openings are bringing the Louisville market beyond the saturation point and whether there's an inevitable contraction on the way. I sure would hate for Baxter Station to be part of it.

Maybe the old standbys like yourself need to just weather the current spate of new openings. Maybe once everyone's had a chance to try the new options they'll return to their favorites.

Oh, Andrew, I am so sorry to hear that Baxter Station will be on the market soon. It was my go to place with my colleagues every week for lunch. With job changes and staying home with my son, I just don't get out as much. With my son acting at Walden, my husband and I have been visiting more often. Always quality food and reasonable prices. You are a true class act as is your restaurant and will be missed.

please understand that this is not a self promotion... it is an expression of frustration... i have tried to voice my concerns privately and diplomatically as possible ( a struggle ... sometimes) to current and former administrations... doing business here has lost its luster... really... i drop $75,000 to renovate my back building and i get hassled over a 'pod' that is permitted to be in the street... the guy hassling me? his name is on the bottom of the permit... public record... i can get a parking ticket... when my meter expires by a minute... ( oh , but that has been sub contracted to a for profit company), but the cops are stretched too thin to run radar...on payne street, while people constantly do 20 plus over... what would happen if i threw out tables and chairs out in front and alongside of my building??? i would get cited... but , check the law.... it goes something like this... to encroach on a public property, you need to have an extended premise license and your service area needs to be specifically defined by a boundary / cordoned off area... parking... come on... you need to provide 1 space for every 100 square feet... theoretically speaking,,, solution??? just grant a waiver...but buy a permit for $29.95...
take a minute and pull up in front of my building on payne street... look at my sidewalk.. toss a quarter in the hole... it will add up... lol.
sorry for the rant.... the forum is meant to be a place for intelligent conversation...
peace, andrew

Totally devastating, Andrew. I just sent messages to my sister and brother, whose first date was at BS, and it has always been my neice's favorite. Our hearts will tear in the wake of this. And you... I worked at the Rover when you came in and sat at booth 3 to discuss Louisville Originals for the first time with Michael and Siobhan (not to mention all of my friends that have worked for you over the years - there are so many!). I felt like I was a part of something, even though I was eaves dropping. Then I had the honor of working for a restaurant that passed the year mark and could apply for membership. Then I was reeeally a part of that something. I love this city and food scene, and you are one of the original threads in the fibers of it's cloth, regardless of how long you've been around. If I had ten million dollars, I'd give you one of them (and hopefully drink for free for life?).

A few years ago, the person who headed up the Fund for the Arts stated that the problem with Louisville is that the same 30,000 or 40,000 people or so support everything - the arts, UL, etc. I think you might want to include dining also. We would love to eat out all the time but the expense, time, and calories keep us from doing so - we do usually eat some of our meal - the least forgiving portion that won't survive reheating, etc - then take the remaining with us for another meal or two.
Just not enough people to support all of these new restaurants. We tend to go back to a couple of the ones we really like.
Also, since the Yum Center has opened, we tend to either eat downtown or grab a bite in the arena, so our dining habits have changed that way. We go to both the men and women's games, so during the weekday games, we have to eat something there.
Also, I think that clustering/bundling helps busineses. Mozz is a block or so off the east Nulu area, so it might not do so well. Baxter Station is by itself, which hurts it now.
Need more young professionals in town. We've always been a family town and now kids are even more involved in after school and weekend sports so there go those opportunities.
Ellen

Though I don't go to Baxter Station as frequently as I once used to (I'm in Clifton and my friends that I visited at Hull & Cooper have moved), I still love the place. Every time I've taken my boyfriend in for dinner and/or a drink, he's been mesmerized by the train! I also like to take family from out-of-town there, too. Probably my favorite has been sitting at the bar with little kids from the neighborhood coming in to get cokes! I really hate to hear this news - you will truly be missed. (And BTW I feel you on the Nulu thing as well.)

...We would love to eat out all the time but the expense, time, and calories keep us from doing so...Just not enough people to support all of these new restaurants.Ellen

We like Baxter Station a lot. We'll be back there again and genuinely understand its value to our dining community.

Here's what though...

Our list of local restaurants that we've tried and liked greatly or well enough seems to fluctuate around 300 - 350. Our list of new places we'd like to try sometime, just plain new or that we've recently heard a buzz about, fluctuate around 25 - 35. In practice we go to places we've been before as opposed to ones new to us probably 90% of the time. The total on the list is around, dunno, maybe 20% of all the restaurants in the market on both sides of the river. I'd welcome an estimation on how may there actually are more or less; it is a moving target. I weed out places that have closed as I find out about it and since the late '90s anyway this pattern has been pretty stable for what's on the "dining radar" in our household. For reasons of health and $ we eat meals out maybe three or fours times a week. When we were working it was more like four, now more like three. So if we have an average close to 350 restaurants on our radar at a given time with, let's split the difference, 3.5 times a week eating out, that means on average we'll actually patronize a place once every two years. That's if you figure we are a typical pair who are out of town a couple of weeks a year or otherwise out of the usual dining loop. Of course, there are places we go to "all the time" which for us means once a month or every other month. So others we may not get to for more than two years between dining.

Are we typical?

Lonnie - I would say that's a fair assessment of our dining habits, but we probably have fewer on the list. I understand the rant about the city stuff, but I take offense at the rant about Louisville diners chasing trends. Is there something wrong with wanting to try some place new? And Andrew, what about when you were the new guy in town, did you think about the business you might be taking from other restaurants? I don't mean to knock you when you're down, but isn't this the nature of business?

This post got me to thinking about where we've eaten in the past couple of months, L&N, Baxter Station, Uptown, La Bodega, Asiatique, Porcini, Mike Linnings, Bristol, North End, Wild Eggs, Shady Lane, Oriental House, Chubby Ray's are the established places that spring to mind. As for the newer places, Di Fabio's, Majid's, Guaca-Mole, Hiko-a-mon, Decca, Sal's Pizza, Smokehouse BBQ are what I can remember. Throw in a visit to the Cheesecake Factory and I think that pretty well covers it. We don't eat out as ofte as we used to, but we like to spread it around when we do and tend to go for the established places.

FYI I think Baxter Station is great. Good luck whatever you decide.

hey all,
did not mean to offend... or hurt anyone's feelings... let me add one word to my post... majority...i do believe the majority of louisvillians chase the trends in dining... a majority can be 51%...
robin... i was the new kid on the block for two years before our first review...it blew our doors off... maybe that took a little out of money out of the hands of others, but not much.
back around 1980 (or so) there was not 'liquor by the drink' liquor license. the advent of that license (with the stipulation that you seat 100 people at tables, not counting the bar, as well as do 50% of your business in food) helped start the boom... you used to have to be 700 feet away from the next place that had a license...
i would love to see a study of restaurant openings /closing in relationship to population growth decline...
perhaps professor dakan at u of l ( if he hasnt retired) could make that a class project for his demographics class in the fall...
as always, thanks for supporting the restaurant business.
andrew
p.s. i also apologize for 'thread jacking' maggie and miguels thread. didn't know there was a term like that.
p.p.s. got a call from the mayors office today...

p.p.s. got a call from the mayors office today...

Hi Andrew!
Yes, Greg's office tends to be pretty proactive in trying to help local businessmen, just ask Matthew Davis with Little Cheezers. Its why Im a friend and supporter of his. Greg attempted to get old outdated city ordinances changed in order to make things easier on our new and growing food truck scene.

That being said I would to add my voice to the other's on here singing your praises. My office and business are a few blocks away from your restaurant, and I do business lunches there quite frequently. Your wings (when the cook throws them on the grill) are some of the best in town. I have never had a bad meal or bad service as Baxter Station.

I would however caveat that by saying every business needs to grow and adapt to the market in order to stay competitive. Perhaps try the breakfast option you are thinking about? Maybe try embracing the locavore scene and sourcing all your foods (or as much as possible) locally. I know something my wife and I would LOVE to see are more local restaurants putting nutritional information on their menus or having it available if we ask. The national obesity epidemic is of great concern to us, and while we like dining out we want to make sure what we are eating fits within our lifestyle.

Or maybe try something completely new and reopen in a new location with a new concept? I know the old Hilltop Theatre building on Frankfort Ave is up for sale and is just screaming to have someone put a brew and view or movie/restaurant concept in it. To my knowledge we dont have a single one in Louisville.

Lastly, as a member of the Highland's Commerce Guild I would challenge to join the organization and bring your concerns to the group. Its a great organization of active local business owners in the Bardstown/Baxter Ave area.

Whatever you do I wish you luck, and want you to know you have a great establishment!

Welcome to the forum, Doug - and thank you for adding some greats points in the discussion. I'm behind your assertions 100%.

perhaps professor dakan at u of l ( if he hasnt retired) could make that a class project for his demographics class in the fall...

Sadly, Bill passed away some years ago. He was a great friend of our family's and is sorely missed.

This is bad news. There were times we wanted to dine near your area, but could not find parking. I haven't been back to many Highlands eateries because of that. We are in St Matthews and have so many choices within walking distance or with easier parking. Not only that, there have been several times when I've parked in the Highlands to have my car sideswiped, dinged or rear ended.....hit and run.