🍳 This week’s closing of BLD – the Chandler restaurant was sold to another local brunch concept (see story) – wasn’t due to a lack of success, owner Jackson Armstrong says.
‘‘I always got offers on that store,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s a great location.’’
Instead, the motivating factor was Armstrong and his wife’s desire to start a family.
‘‘We had put having a family on hold,’’ he says.
Then he got the type of offer he was looking for from Brunch Snob owners Celene and Keith Hillsbery, who have locations in Ahwatukee and uptown Phoenix.
‘‘It was important to us that if we were going to sell, the buyer had to have same type of concept as BLD and be willing to take on the same staff,’’ he says.
‘‘We’re finally going to start a family. I just want to make sure people understand the sale is a positive narrative.’’
Last year, Armstrong brought on former Arizona Diamondbacks pitching coach Mike Butcher as a partner in his eight-year-old south Chandler restaurant Ginger Monkey, which was renamed Off 87.
He and his wife, Monique, also own Pour Decisions Patio & Kitchen, an Old Town Scottsdale hangout for Chicago Bears fans and Kansas State football fans.
When Brunch Snob opens – it’s shooting for Nov. 1 – Armstrong says he’ll be at the ribbon-cutting.
‘‘My wife and I live literally around corner,’’ he says. ‘‘I really want to see them succeed because I want to eat there.’’
