CHARLESTON—Charlestowne Hotels, a full-service hospitality management company, is debuting six new concepts this year, including the company’s first standalone bar and restaurant. Four hotel restaurant concepts have already opened and two more will open in 2021.
Since January, Charlestowne has opened four successful hotel boof and beverage operations, including Anvil + Ax at Hotel Morgan (Morgantown, West Virginia); Famille at Origin Hotel Westminster (Westminster, Colorado); Front & Main at the Lockwood Hotel (Waterville, Maine); and NOVO at Wild Rice Retreat (Bayfield, Wisconsin). Charlestowne’s fully integrated food and beverage team leads all front and back-of-house operations for every restaurant it manages, including concept development, branding, menu ideation, staff hiring and training, and design consultation.
Each restaurant opening has been positively viewed by guests and locals, driving reservations and foot traffic during a particularly challenging time for the hospitality industry. Since opening in March, over 60 percent of Origin Hotel Westminster’s total revenue has come from food and beverage alone. Further, restaurant reservations at Front & Main, which opened its doors in advance of the Lockwood Hotel, are fully booked nearly every day of the week.
“Charlestowne’s success in restaurant concept development is supported by our community-centric approach. We observe the local landscape and design our culinary concepts to fill gaps in the market,” says Anthony Langan, corporate director of food and beverage at Charlestowne Hotels. “We never add a restaurant simply to check a box. For us, it’s all about what we can create that will inject more color, energy, and hometown pride into the neighborhood.”
Later this year, Charlestowne Hotels will celebrate a moment in its 40-year history: the opening of Gingerline, its first standalone restaurant concept outside a hotel property. Located on Market Street in Charleston, South Carolina, the bar and restaurant will feature cocktails and coastal cooking. In addition to its central location, it is also nearby two of Charlestowne’s flagship hotels—The Spectator and The French Quarter Inn—giving it a source of foot traffic.
In addition to Gingerline, Charlestowne is set to open a garden-inspired bar and lounge at The Loutrel (Charleston, South Carolina) later this year, with additional restaurant concepts already in the pipeline for 2022. The company is signing new partners as it builds its reputation as a food and beverage operator.
Charlestowne currently manages more than three dozen food and beverage outlets, ranging from coffee shops and delis to rooftop bars and full-service restaurants. Within the past six months, Charlestowne’s newest restaurants have experienced success, establishing food and beverage as one of the management company’s pillars. Looking ahead, Charlestowne aims to use food and beverage concepts to establish higher-performing ADR, operations, and guest services through a range of new capabilities, culinary-focused hotel programming experiences, and bookable packages.
