New Plans On Tap For Whetstone

WAITSBURG - When the Whetstone Public House reopens after its annual maintenance possibly later this week, patrons will notice something different about the place.

The bar will look the same after its spring cleaning, plumbing repairs, general maintenance and inventory audit. Even the hours will remain.

But you won't find the same menu nor the same offering of hard liquor.

"This year, our maintenance period will also coincide with some fundamental shifts in the business model for the Whetstone Public House and the Whetstone Building in general," said Travis Larsen of Coppei Partners, which owns the building and the business. From its reopening on, the Whetstone will pare back its full-food restaurant menu and it will no longer serve hard alcohol. The former is a requirement for the latter.

Instead, the Whetstone will offer a more limited menu but more beers, local wines and entertainment, while looking for a third-party restaurant businesses to take advantage of the other spaces in the building on Preston Ave. "It has always been our intent to fill the retail spaces of the Whetstone Building with tenants that will both add symbiotic value to each of the other businesses in the building and also provide valuable products or services to the community," Larsen said. "We are currently in the process of moving forward with this vision and we are speaking with several businesses that we believe will fulfill these requirements," he said. "We are speaking with several legitimate restaurateurs who are interested in the space."

The space to which Larsen referred is the part of the building formerly occupied by the Biscuit Ridge Bakery.

He said he hopes to find a restaurant group that will offer breakfast, lunch and dinner, creating a separate eating environment that families can enjoy. "The stock of Waitsburg's downtown commercial district is rising thanks to some very positive press and a tremendous effort on the part of local business owners and we hope that the vacancy rates of the downtown buildings will soon drop dramatically," Larsen said. He predicted that in the coming months, visitors to the Whetstone will experience a One of A Kind pub "truly created for and focused on the community of Waitsburg and surrounding communities."