Bruce Daniels says he hopes something good can come out of something bad.
Monday, Daniels announced that he would close Hinkley’s restaurant, effective immediately.
“Maybe Hinkley’s demise can also be a wake up call,” said Daniels. “It’s not coming back, but maybe we can learn from it.”
And the lesson to learn?
“Marysville needs to realize that we need to support our local businesses,” Daniels said.
Daniels bought the former Doc Henderson’s at 318 E. Fifth St., and opened Hinkley’s Steakhouse and Spirits.
“I wanted to hopefully have a new, upscale dining restaurant in Marysville so businesses people and residents could appreciate something different and local,” Daniels said.
In September 2016, citing poor business, Daniels closed the restaurant for about a month.
“I got a ton of feedback,” Daniels said.
He explained that he didn’t have a plan for the restaurant, but after the public input, he decided to reopen.
“I was excited,” Daniels said. “We did probably 90 percent of what the community said they wanted.”
He said the restaurant simplified its menu and made more affordable options.
Daniels said that while he tried to be responsive to the community, his sales slipped even further. Daniels said he was losing about $30,000 a month. He said he wasn’t planning to get rich and would have even continued to operate at a small loss, but could not sustain the type of losses the restaurant was experiencing.
“We lost a pretty fair amount of money each month,” Daniels said. “It finally didn’t work. The sales were not enough to make it work.”
Daniels said he is “saddened and disappointed” at the need to close.
He added, “we needed this to be a place that people used once a month, not once a year. We tried to tailor the menu and the process to where people could use it once a month. Unfortunately, this just didn’t work.”
Daniels said he will honor any Hinkley’s gift card at Leon’s or offer a full refund. Those with questions are asked to contact Marie Gilman at mgilman@hondamarysville.com or Bruce Daniels at bdaniels@hondamarysville.com.
Daniels said he has “zero plans top sell the house.”
“I don’t know what I am going to do with it,” he said. “I am not in any rush to do something with it.”
Daniels will continue to operate Leon’s Garage, which neighbors the Hinkley’s property. He said he has also purchased the Knights of Columbus building on that block.
“I am going to continue to improve that spot,” Daniels said. “I think there is a lot of opportunities and things that we can do.”
He said he thinks many of the opportunities will be “really creative.”
Daniels said he has a three-point checklist for anything that could go into the house.
“Unique, special and one-of-a-kind,” Daniels said. “Anything that goes in there will have to check all those boxes. I think Hinkley’s was that, but it might have been ahead of its time.”
Daniels said he will “lay low and continue to look at other opportunities to invest and make the uptown better.”
But, he said, he can’t be the only one.
“I can’t do it, but the community can,” Daniels said. “If the community says, ‘We are going to get behind this and we are going to make the most vibrant, thriving uptown in the state, we can do this. The resources are there. It can be done.”
He said he hopes Hinkley’s closing “can be the turning point.”
Daniels said he “will never give up on Marysville, as long as I am alive.” He said he doesn’t see any community in the state with more potential.
“I don’t know where all this will end up, but I will continue to work for the improvement and vitalization of Uptown Marysville no less than I was, and possibly more,” Daniels said.