Burntwood Tavern made a splash on the local food scene in 2010 with their debut of their first location in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Burntwood Tavern Regional Marketing Partner Ian Hopkins talked about how he got involved with the Burntwood Tavern project.
“Our owner Brett Adams was a gentleman I knew from our previous lives and our previous restaurants. We were neighbors. I would come out to check out his new endeavors.”
Hopkins unexpectedly ended up being one of the first employees hired for the restaurant. “I had come out purely to see what he was doing, to check the building out and say hi as a friend.” Once he got to the site, Hopkins ended up seeing something that sparked his interest.
He appreciated his previous jobs, but something was missing for him. “At my old life, it was a little bit more about turning to the next guest and seeing what was going on and continuing to push that flow through every day.”
Burntwood offered a great change of pace for Hopkins and he liked Brett’s philosophy on the restaurant. “[Sic] Brett talked about with starting the Burntwood Tavern and giving a great guest experience.” Great service is one of the pillars of what Burntwood Tavern was founded on. “We really focus on service each and every day. We make sure the experience is something that someone wants to go home and talk about,“ said Hopkins. “And that sort of sparked my interest and got me excited about coming over to a place like that.”
Service is one of many things that sets Burntwood Tavern apart as well as their quaint, rustic dining environment. Hopkins explained that the employees radiate that service model through taking care of them, not as customers, but as guests. Burntwood Tavern takes a very guest-focused approach to their operations, providing a destination that allows each guest to have a warm, friendly experience while enjoying the highest standards of service and food. The owners just don’t look for the “average employee” to work in their restaurants; they want someone that will exemplify the culture they have recreated. “We really search for those people that believe in great service and believe in making it more than just a restaurant.”
Hopkins previously had a career as a regional sales manager. “I was covering territories, Cleveland to DC to Foxboro and everything in between; I was excited about stepping into a small environment with a little 18 table restaurant.” He appreciates being able to focus on the customers. “I like really being able to focus on the customer experience each and every day, so that got me interested and that’s when I decided to sign on.”
Burntwood prides itself on its culture which makes it different than other restaurants in the area. When you come to Burntwood Tavern you are a guest, Hopkins explained. “We look at the word customer as the ‘c’ word. We don’t use it. We believe that when you think of someone as a guest, there is a difference in the way you treat them. There is a difference in the way you approach dealing with them,” he added. “That’s really the way we want ALL of our employees to think about people, from everyone from the back of the house to the front of the house.”
Even the people that prepare the food are on board with the restaurant philosophy at Burntwood Tavern. “Although the guys in the back are there cooking, they don’t see the guests on a day to day basis. They don’t have that interaction [with them]. However, those plates they put out are their interaction with the guests. We want that to be something they are proud of as well.” Hopkins explained this has been their company culture from the beginning.
Their menu complements their surroundings with classic approachable dishes that offer inherently more. Their chef-driven approach to each and every dish provides clear points of differentiation with their offerings while keeping the flavors simple and clean.
Hopkins said, “So that’s where we’ve sort of attacked this from at the beginning and gotten very excited about it. It’s really what our culture has been started and founded on.”
So after the start of the Chagrin location, owner Brett Adams and the rest of his team, “figured in two or three years we might open a second restaurant,” according to Hopkins. “We were blessed with a great guest base that was excited about what we were doing. Through that we have been able to grow much more rapidly than we originally thought. It’s been very exciting,” he said.
And open they have! In a little over four years, Burntwood Tavern has expanded to five locations over the Cleveland area. Hopkins updated what’s happening across the Burntwood Tavern franchise. “We just celebrated our one year anniversary in Cuyahoga Falls and we will actually be opening our sixth restaurant at the end of this year/beginning of next in downtown Chagrin Falls. That will be called M Italian.”
Burntwood Tavern
504 E. Washington St
Chagrin Falls, OH 44022
chagrin@burntwoodtavern.com
ph (440) 318-1560
Kitchen
Sunday-Thursday
11:00am-10:00pm
Friday & Saturday
11:00am-11:00pm
Bar
Everyday
11:00am – Midnight
Brunch
Saturday & Sunday
11:00am – 3:00pm
