Butchertown Grocery closed indefinitely

According to this story from business first Butchertown Grocery is closed indefinitely starting today.

https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/ ... MYZTcucVlA

[Robin Garr]

If I'm not mistaken, they've been closed since early in the pandemic. Isn't that correct?

[Robin Garr]

Here's a very long email just sent out:

Butchertown Grocery Announces Closing of Its Restaurant, Bakery to Continue

Butchertown Grocery Restaurant Gifts Neighborhood Two Beloved Recipes

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (June 18, 2021) — Butchertown Grocery (“BG”), an award-winning business with a restaurant located on East Washington Street and a bakery on East Main Street, both in the Butchertown neighborhood, has announced its restaurant will remain closed for the indefinite future. Bobby Benjamin, one of BG’s founding partners and its Executive Chef, has accepted a job outside of Louisville, and BG’s plans to reopen the restaurant with the easing of pandemic restrictions, starting earlier this month, have been put on hold.

BG’s restaurant has been closed to dine-in business since mid-March last year, as the pandemic and ongoing government restrictions made it impossible to maintain restaurant operations. The business fought through the past 15 months, maintaining its brand and providing an outlet for the neighborhood to have access to freshly prepared pastries, bakery goods and sandwiches while keeping many of its staff at work at its bakery. BG’s bakery will remain open, serving high-quality baked goods, pastries, coffees and espresso to the neighborhood as the owners of the BG business consider options for the future.

“The Butchertown Grocery team worked relentlessly keeping the bakery open and serving the neighborhood throughout the pandemic. They have pivoted the business several times and have jumped in with passion and commitment, whether it was experimenting with delivery and menu offerings or working late to delight socially distanced guests with classic tasting menus after hours in the bakery. We are looking forward to serving our Butchertown Grocery customers at the bakery and working with the team through next steps,” said Chad Welch, one of the key behind the scenes players for BG.

BG’s restaurant opened in late 2015 to strong reviews, including being recognized as the second-best new restaurant in the nation in an independent poll conducted by USA Today the same year. BG’s menu and Chef Benjamin’s cooking delighted Louisvillians and out-of-town visitors alike with approachable yet classically correct recipes. Handmade pastas and a fusion of the best ingredients with local flavors – including bourbon-influenced seasonings and olive oils from all over the world – delivered a dining experience that was fun and inspiring to the palate at the same time.

BG brought the same focus on serving the neighborhood when it opened its bakery in late 2019, serving the most diverse selection of freshly made breads, pastries, salads, sandwiches, craft beers, bourbon by the bottle, and a full menu of espresso and custom-blend coffees, all prepared using the finest ingredients, quality and technique.

The pandemic and its longer-term impacts have proven difficult to overcome for the BG team. Many trained culinary professionals have remade their careers outside of the restaurant business, and, while there was hope to reopen BG’s restaurant earlier this month, Benjamin’s decision to accept employment outside of Louisville has caused the business to conclude in the best interest of all involved while options for the future are considered.

“Bobby put his heart and soul into making Butchertown Grocery great, and I am so proud of what we have achieved,” said John Moore, BG’s principal owner. “I don’t necessarily agree with Bobby’s conviction that the current local environment is not yet ready to support Butchertown Grocery in the way we all loved it, but I understand the uncertainty COVID has brought to restaurants and chefs. I also understand Bobby’s need to prioritize his family against those of a busy restaurant business with potential plans that could have required travel and time away from family. I know Bobby is going to miss Louisville and its food scene, but most of all he will miss serving his customers. We wanted Butchertown Grocery to feel like a place that was an extension of home for everyone, and I’d like to think we did that. To Bobby, our customers were all family and he treated them that way, and he will be missed.”

John and Patti Moore, along with Chad and Michele Welch, proud Butchertown residents who have relocated from New York and San Francisco, respectively, over the past 10 years, have been driving forces and investors in BG since its inception.

“We all have spent most our lives in other places, and we wanted to build something special for Butchertown, a neighborhood we quickly fell in love with, by bringing some of what we loved most about those experiences to our adopted home,” said Patti Moore. “Butchertown Grocery and the bakery are in many ways our ‘love letters’ to this incredible community.”

John Moore added, “We are heartbroken that Butchertown Grocery will not reopen this summer but understand Bobby’s decision to move on. We appreciate all that he has done to try to make the restaurant work throughout the pandemic. We also realize that life sometimes must change, and we hope Bobby finds both career success and the best setting for his life and family as he moves on. While there will be many challenges to work through given Bobby’s departure, we are all hopeful that we can find a way to put this great neighborhood spot back to work. We love Butchertown and want it to continue to become an even better place to call home.”

“In keeping with the Butchertown Grocery tradition of sharing with our family and customers, and as we begin to work through what the future holds, we’d like to share the gift of a couple of our favorite recipes – ones that are loved by many,” Chad Welch said.

Sad to see them go. That's one of the very best of some great restaurants we've lost in the past 2 years.

That’s a shame. I was looking forward to getting their BLT again later this summer. What are the recipes? I don’t see them on their site or Instagram?

[Robin Garr]

That’s a shame. I was looking forward to getting their BLT again later this summer. What are the recipes? I don’t see them on their site or Instagram?

http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/wp-co ... ecipes.pdf

That’s a shame. I was looking forward to getting their BLT again later this summer. What are the recipes? I don’t see them on their site or Instagram?

http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/wp-co ... ecipes.pdf

Thank you, Robin!

I've never been to Butchertown Grocery, but I LOVE Butchertown Grocery Bakery and I can only hope this doesn't have negative repercussions for that operation. Their sausage biscuit (with delicious whole grain mustard) is a thing of beauty.