According to recent reporting in ABJ, a local restaurateur duo is cooking up a new concept.
Larry Foles and Guy Villavaso, known for running the restaurants Red Ash Italia, Bulevar, J. Carver’s, ATX Cocina among others, are working on Sugar Wolf Bakery which is set for Third and Guadalupe later this year.
In the interview, Foles highlighted the significant increase in startup costs for a new restaurant, estimating a cost of about $1,000 per square foot downtown, “factoring in the price of lumber, construction materials and metallic equipment such as air conditioning, hoods and duct work.” In total the duo anticipate around $4.5 million each to open the establishment.
“It’s getting to a point that I see a lot of smaller companies are probably going to halt, slow down a little bit, even the larger ones, until we see the environment change a little bit,” Foles said. “Your return on investment is not near as good as it was five years ago.”
Sugar Wolf is described in the report as “an American European bakery that will have an open kitchen and bakery and a 20-foot display with pastries, focaccia, warm cookies and more in a 4,500-square-foot space.”
The establishment will also serve sandwiches with roasted meats off spits and feature a 20-foot coffee bar. Foles emphasizes that all menu items will be under $20.
