EnRich Bistro owner plans to reboot popular Bradenton restaurant closed by the pandemic
Last June, Rich Knowles, chef and owner of the popular EnRich Bistro, went on social media with some sad news. After a six-year run, he was closing the business.
It was a bitter pill for Knowles and his fans.
The headwinds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were too much to buck, including concerns about the disease, increasingly stringent government lock-down rules, and plummeting sales. On top of that, his lease was coming to an end.
But now, Knowles said he is planning to reboot Enrich Bistro, not in its former location in the 5600 block of Manatee Avenue West but close by at 51st Street West and Manatee Avenue West. And this time, he will be the property owner.
Hoped for completion date is spring 2022.
During the pandemic, Knowles has not been idle. He has continued to operate his catering business, Innovative Dining, from a location on Tallevast Road, with executive chef Seth Groseclose and Paula Wright, catering director and marketing manager.
All the while he has continued to plan the return of EnRich Bistro.
“From the day I closed, I was keeping my eyes open for a new location, and I wanted to stay close to my fan base,” Knowles said.
He found what he was looking for in the Fairway Center, and bought two units that will be demolished and merged to make way for the rebooted Enrich Bistro.
“It will be a brand-new restaurant, exactly the way that I want it,” Knowles said.
Planned is inside seating for about 140, two private dining rooms and a bar and lounge area. He is still working on outside seating plans.
“We will have a much bigger kitchen and have a baking area for our breads and desserts,” he said.
Thursday, he sat at a table and reviewed plans for his rebooted restaurant with the same care and attention he puts into signature dishes like the Montana Plate (filet with seasonal vegetables), calamari salad with wasabi vinaigrette and the buttermilk fried chicken breasts.
Knowles was 28 when he first opened EnRich Bistro. He was confident in his skill as a chef, but was nervous about what he didn’t know about running a business.
Now 36, and with six years of experience as a business owner, Knowles is excited to bring EnRich Bistro back onto the restaurant scene.
It’s been a tough year and a half for restaurants everywhere.
Innovative Dining, which had depended on big events like weddings, galas and fundraisers, saw those events dry up as well. The catering business adjusted its focus on smaller events, such as dinner parties.
For more information about the catering business, visit innovative-dining.com.
Last week, the National Restaurant Association released its mid-year state of the restaurant industry update.
Among those findings:
▪ Eating and drinking places are still nearly 1 million jobs, or 8%, below pre-pandemic employment levels and the restaurants and accommodations sector have one of the highest levels of unfilled job openings of any industry.
▪ Six in 10 adults have changed their restaurant use due to the rise in the Delta variant.
▪ A National Restaurant Association survey, conducted Aug. 13-15, found that the delta variant of COVID-19 threatens to reverse the gains made in the first six months of the year.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 10:39 AM.
