GEORGETOWN
After 17 years in business, Robinhood Free Meetinghouse owner Michael Gagne announced Friday that the acclaimed restaurant has closed and is on the market.
In an email to “Friends of the Meetinghouse,” Gagne attributed the closure in part to the dismal economy, as well as an unsustainable business model and an influx of restaurants in the area.
“It’s very sad,” Gagne said Tuesday. “ I was hoping to weather it and make it.”
Gagne’s Bath-based retail business, Gagne Foods, which manufactures award-winning cream cheese biscuits and other products, however, is “ up and running,” with 30 employees.
Robinhood Free Meetinghouse — called a “culinary oasis” by The New York Times — opened in 1994. Over the next 17 years, Gagne continued to collect accolades, and in 2008 he was named chef of the year by the Maine Restaurant Association.
Despite the acclaim, Gagne said, the business model for the restaurant eventually proved unsustainable.
Strong summer sales and “living off catering deposits in the winter … allowed me to maintain a consistent cooking staff, as opposed to laying people off every winter and looking for a new chef,” he said.
With leads, but no contracts for catering for summer 2012, Gagne said, “the writing was on the wall.”
Gagne said a number of factors contributed to his decision to close the restaurant, including a down economy and a plethora of new “dinky little restaurants” in the area.
“Even if we don’t lose customers to them permanently, the pie ( for customers) is small, and there are more people wanting a piece of it,” he said. “Right now, I’m just trying to stop the bleeding and figure out where we’re at.”
In doing so, Gagne had to lay off 20 employees.
Gagne said he’s not sure what comes next, other than focusing on his retail business.
Gagne Foods “ is in full swing,” he said, “and in fact, we’re very optimistic about that business, although it took a big hit.”
In 2007, based in part on Gagne’s award-winning 72- Layer Cream Cheese Biscuits, Gagne Foods grew 300 percent, leading Gagne to secure nearly $ 500,000 in federal grants. Added to matching funds, he purchased “ next generation” equipment and projected 100 percent growth in 2008 — “that was conservative, seeing how we’d showed 300 percent in 2007. But we got 14 (percent growth).”
Gagne Foods has since focused on food service and an in- store bakery, which Gagne said has demonstrated “explosive growth.”
“ That’s what we should have done in the first place, because retail is incredibly expensive to market and maintain,” he said.
A variety of stores and supermarkets continue to carry Gagne’s original biscuits, as well as turnovers, cinnamon rolls and other types of biscuits. The company also does contract manufacturing and private label work.
But as Gagne Foods moved forward, Gagne stopped collecting a paycheck from the restaurant two years ago, despite working there nearly every night.
So at least for now, Robinhood Meetinghouse is closed.
Sharon Drake Real Estate has listed the property for $ 475,000, according to the website.
Drake said Tuesday that she’s marketing the 1855 Greek revival building, constructed originally as a meetinghouse, as both a commercial building and a potential residence.
Gagne said the Meetinghouse was cleaned and closed “with the idea that we might open,” so another restaurateur could “come in, stock it and roll.”
What will happen in the spring remains to be seen, Gagne said. If the business is sold, he’ll have his answer. Alternatively, he said, he’ll investigate a new business model, staff and financing, to reopen in the spring.
“Ideally, we’ll find a young chef with a lot of money,” he said Tuesday.
Another option is a new business model — although Gagne said he’s tried everything he can think of, from offering cooking classes and theme nights in the off-season to wine-tasting dinners and on- and off-premises catering.
Despite a “very strong local clientele” and more than 1,000 weddings and related events in 17 years, he isn’t quite sure what else to try.
“I’m not sure how we do it,” he said. “Part of the perception was that this was a ‘la de dah,’ hoity toity place, but we had all local people working here. I think we gave the best value anyone could get for all hand-cooked food. I dedicated my life to that.” bbrogan@timesrecord.com
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