<< Previous   of   Next >> For the Enterprise/Mina Williams  (click to enlarge) Johnny Spuds and Sahara Pizza owner John Hertrich said business at the recently opened restaraunt has been good. (click to enlarge) For the Enterprise/Mina Williams The Red Onion is the latest restaurant owned by Seaun and LaRae Richards, who also owned the 5th Avenue Grill House in Edmonds.

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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Smaller is better, claim new restaurateurs

Red Onion, Johnny Spuds doing well despite the economy

By Mina Williams
Special to The Enterprise

Two Mountlake Terrace restaurateurs are bullish on business, despite the sluggish economy. One is a seasoned 25-year veteran of the turbulent hospitality industry. The other is a first-time owner who has earned his stripes working up from washing dishes. Both are delighting neighbors with their recently opened small, casual concepts.

Riding the rocky pitches of restaurants, Seaun and LaRae Richards have owned and operated five spots in the area surviving economic dips, challenging locations and lease hikes. In hindsight, the trial setting them up for success with the newly opened The Red Onion was the 2005 state smoking ban.

“The smoking ban caused a drop in our sales (at Edmonds' 5th Avenue Grill House) of 40 percent,” Seaun Richards said. “More than 80 percent of our customers were smokers and we had to figure out a way to recapture sales. We shifted to offering a big menu of burgers. It (2007) was our best year in the business.”

That lift was short-lived. By the end of 2008, the economy crashed and a rash of inordinate weather nipped the number of diners. The Richardses closed the Edmonds restaurant along with their Richmond Beach Grill House.

“I thought we were out of the business,” Seaun Richards said. “I bought a suit and went on an interview with a radio station. The next morning, contemplating working for somebody else, I could not get out of bed I was so depressed.”

It was then that a former purveyor called about a restaurant available in Mountlake Terrace. The Richardses struck a deal with the landlord, cleaned up the former drive-in and opened The Red Onion, applying their honed casual menu.

“We thought it would take three or four months to educate the neighbors and we would ease into our new business. Word of mouth has hit unlike any of our previous five restaurants. The community response has been phenomenal,” Richards said. On a Friday night in July more than 160 meals were served. “We feel our personal recession ended (when the restaurant opened).”

Open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., the 38-seat Red Onion's menu is burger- and barbecue-centric with sandwiches, salads, chowder and chili. Beer and wine will be offered when permitting is finalized.

Just a few blocks away, John Hertrich has opened a restaurant with multiple concepts within a 25-seat cabana-sized spot. “Despite the economy, I think people will still go out and eat,” Hertrich said.

As with The Red Onion, Sahara Pizza and Johnny Spuds opened its door to success. “Just four weeks into this, we are getting repeat business and our guests are referring friends,” Hertrich said. The Sahara menu features a full complement of pizzas with pasta, salads and a dizzying array of chicken wing flavors alongside a classic fish, chip and chowder list.

Hertrich's path to restaurant ownership is rooted in his sales and marketing skills — he sold advertisements for the Enterprise — and in his passion for the restaurant industry. As a teenager he washed dishes and put himself through college as a server and moonlighted as a bartender, for a time working for the Richardses. He set up a concession trailer and perfected his fish-and-chips menu of hand-cut cod and French fries.

Yearning for a bricks-and-mortar restaurant, Hertrich partnered with a relative, who has the regional Sahara Pizza franchise rights, found the location and learned the pizza business.

A beer, wine and full bar license has just been approved. The full menu will be served 11 a.m. to midnight, all days of the week. Breakfast will be served Saturday and Sunday.