Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Restaurateur Scott Wise said challenges related to recruiting employees and inflation factored in the recent closure of a Roots Burger Bar in Indianapolis.
Roots Burger Bar, a concept launched by Scotty’s Brewhouse founder Wise with financial partners, closed near the intersection of 71st Street and Binford Boulevard at the end of June. Roots locations in Carmel and Muncie continue to serve customers.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve never encountered the difficulties of finding people or the hike in wages that have to be paid to compete against other companies in all industries,” Wise said in a written statement.
The 5,000-square-foot Indianapolis location of Roots, 5711 E. 71st St., opened in December 2021. The restaurant took over a spot where Madera Tex-Mex BBQ opened in December 2019 and closed in 2021.
Wise said the location wasn’t as enticing to Binford motorists as he hoped.
“The location at 71st and Binford was just far enough away from the main Binford corridor that we didn’t do the business we projected,” said Wise, managing partner of Roots Burger Bar.
Beginning in 1996, Wise grew Scotty’s Brewhouse to a chain of nearly 20 locations. Wise sold the Scotty’s Brewhouse chain in 2016. Scotty’s Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018, when the restaurant chain closed its downtown Indianapolis, Carmel, Muncie and Waco, Texas, locations.
In 2019, Ball State University alum Wise opened the first Roots restaurant in the same Muncie building that housed the original Scotty’s Brewhouse. Roots opened its Carmel location, 12552 Gray Road, in 2022.
“Our Muncie location benefits from the Ball State University student population for employment,” Wise said. “Our Carmel location was sized to only 2,500 square feet to avoid any employment problems. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t make it work for our 71st and Binford location.”
In 2019, Wise spoke at length about the creation of Roots Burger Bar with IBJ Podcast host Mason King. (See below.)
In October, Wise and his wife, Amy Wise, filed for personal bankruptcy protection. He told the IBJ the filing would have no impact on Roots Burger Bar. “Roots is not implicated in this case in any way,” he said.
Wise also works as a vice president and broker in the Indianapolis office of commercial real estate firm CBRE.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Someone should write a book about this guys business success and failure. It’s like every other year they’re opening, closing, or filing for a different bankruptcy.
Don’t give Scotty any ideas!
Next thing you know he will be running for president.
whets not spoken is the wages…what was he paying…and his target employees… To bad the reporter did not ask..
Interesting . . . How long has George’s been at that same intersection?
Or Blind Owl slightly South?
It’s not really at that intersection. You can’t see it from Binford like you can with George’s or Blind Owl.
It’s a bad location
GT Souths somehow lasted there for 25 years
So…”the location wasn’t as enticing to Binford motorists as we’d hoped” but they closed due to staffing issues. Riiiight. Could it have been quality of food and service, maybe, that caused the location to be less desirable to Binford motorists as well as neighborhood residents?
wrong product, maybe wrong location. GT Souths was there for a long time, the bar right down the strip has been around for awhile. Based on my experience, there was little reason for a family to go there as opposed to George’s. Overall, I was never impressed with the place; nothing stood out in my mind to make me think of going there. Just like his other restaurant.
We live about 1.5 miles south of this location. We wanted it to work. We tried it at least six times. It was busy in the beginning, but clientele began to fall off within several months. We never had a meal where they got everything right. The service was terrible. In my opinion, a direct reflection on management. Several other restaurants in the Binford corridor from 62nd Street to 71st Street have seemed to survive during this same time period.
I think it’s that area – we always have mediocre at best service at blind owl but the food and atmosphere are great so it keeps us going back
This guy obviously has a knack for opening restaurants. Unfortunately for him, he seems to be better at closing them.
Never like to see businesses fail, especially local. I’m sure there are many factors at play, including wages.
Wonder if the history of his restaurants crashing and burning would have any impact on the desire of employees to come on board with his restaurants. The way the Brewhouse franchising operation was handled soured my view on Scott and this unfortunately doesn’t surprise me.
“The location at 71st and Binford was just far enough away from the main Binford corridor that we didn’t do the business we projected”
Commercial Real Estate Broker Scott Wise gave Restaurateur Scott Wise bad real estate advice.
Looks more like a place to find plumbing fittings than a bar/restaurant.
Carmel location is far from being the type of facility of his predecessor (SOME GUYS). for the area demographics he needs to study and understand them. Seating poor, no ambiance. Food mediocre.
If Steak ‘n Shake can survive there then they should of been able too, big space opened up for lease across by Kroger could of been an option for better visibility.