The Place 2 Be Owner On Restaurant Expansion — 'Why Stand Still?'

WEST HARTFORD, CT — The owner of The Place 2 Be restaurant has been pulling no punches about an ambitious plan to expand its base in Hartford and open in West Hartford amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"There is a lot of faith in this industry ... it is as resilient as it gets as an industry," restaurant owner Gina Luari said. "I think we can truly come out of this stronger and instill a lot of faith that we can function at the highest level of safety. With all the precautons, a restaurant is one of the safest places you can go."

Luari continued, "Are we really going to stop our lives? We want to pivot and move ahead. Why stand still?"

Plans for the new The Place 2 Be restaurants call for a fall opening at Blue Back Square in West Hartford. A summertime opening in Downtown Hartford is planned.

Both new resrataunts will maintain the theme of breakfast and lunch with "extended bar hours" established at the current 615 Franklin Ave. location in Hartford's South End.

Here are the scenarios:

(Tim Jensen/Patch)

West Hartford

The Place to Be will occupy the former The Cook & The Bear space. The Cook & Bear closed on July 14, 2019, after about two years in business.

Luari said she expects the lease to be finalized this week and permitting to be granted soon for an "end of July build-out."

If the renovations go smoothly, they point to an opening by the end of September, she said.

Luari said she had been eyeing West Hartford, but was initially concerned about the "logistics" of taking on a space at Blue Back Square.

"We had all but decided to look elsewhere, but then a Blue Back representative came into the (current) Hartford restaurant and gave us a business card. Then, The Cook & Bear left, Blue Back reached out again and we started the process."

The Place 2 Be has preliminary approval for a patio, something The Cook & Bear ownership had alrady applied for, Luari said.

A bench wrapping around the front of the restaurant will give off "a different outdoor feeling"

A long bench along the inside and an "open garage door" motif will add to the outdoor feeling in the warmer months, she said.

The Blue Back address is 50 Memorial Road and it's a 3,000-square-foot space. It will seat a bit more than 100 and the bar will remain intact with champagne on tap in accordance with the eatery's famed "bottomless mimosa" theme.

The Place 2 Be will be hiring a minimum of 25 employees, Luari said.

Hartford

Downtown Hartford has been a target and that target is close to being hit, Luari said. The Place 2 Be is taking over the old Spectra Wired Cafe at 5 Constitution Plaza with 170 seats over 4,500- square feet of space.

It's a natural progression, Luari said.

"We've always been looking to expand," she said. "Our Hartford space (5,000 square feet) has reacheded its max — even prior to the pandemic — and we cannot provide any more space there. We continuously had lines, so knew we had demands. Downtown was always going to be a location for us, because a lot takeout orders were from downtown folks. So, instead of making them pay crazy percentages for delivery services, we're bring the food to them."

That means delicvering to the doors of residents in the 193 units upstairs, Luari said.

There's another reason.

"You're also not able to find breakfast Downtown to save your life," Luari said.

She added, "There are so may residential apartments in the area — 80 percent capacity in that area. It's a huge market."

The Downtown Palce 2 Be will be a "fast casual version" with kiosks as one example of the theme.

Signs should be up by next week and the kitchen is done, Luari said.

(The Place 2 Be)

The Right Move?

"We like to interact and ask where are customers are from," Luari said. "We found out a lot of them were from places like West Hartford, Glastonbury, South Windsor and Newington. It was like, wow, people have so many dining options but are willing to come to the South End of Hartford. It's amazing to me, but it showed a real need.

"That's why we're moving forward — and looking forward to giving custmners more options."

Click here for menus and other tid bits on The Place 2 be.