As SoCo Grille expands in Georgetown, owner envisions franchising across Carolinas | News

GEORGETOWN — Greg Metcalfe sits at a desk just within SoCo Grille’s entrance door, a stone’s throw from Georgetown County Courthouse, as personnel mop the floors and get the chairs off the tables in the hour approaching St. Patrick’s Day lunch company.

It can be been two yrs to the day due to the fact Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order closing South Carolina eating places and bars to dine-in buyers as the COVID-19 pandemic took keep. Metcalfe’s Southern Comforts Restaurant, Bakery and Bar in Pawleys Island would be one of several culinary casualties throughout the state.

Nowadays, Metcalfe and his spouse, Julie, soon after 27 decades alongside one another in the restaurant business enterprise, have their flagship spot on Front Avenue and additional.

In the room of two several years, SoCo Grille has stretched out to incorporate a chophouse around the corner on Screvens Avenue, a restaurant at Belle Isle Marina and, arrive July, a wood-fired pizzeria in the vacant property next doorway to the chophouse.

But Metcalfe mentioned he just isn’t finished in Georgetown, or over and above it.

He mentions strategies for a mix barbecue restaurant and little-batch distillery, continue to in the will work in the state’s third-oldest town.

He also has a goal of 25 SoCo franchises throughout the Carolinas in the upcoming 5 several years. One opened in York in January, and an additional is prepared for Duck Island in North Carolina’s Outer Banking institutions for this September.

“A good deal of religion, to be truthful with you,” Metcalfe stated of how he swung this sort of growth in that period of time.

Metcalfe explained that 5 of 18 Southern Comforts employees adopted him down U.S. Freeway 17 to SoCo Grille, which opened in May perhaps 2020. SoCo Marina Grille at the Belle Isle Marina south of downtown Georgetown opened 3 months later. The a lot more upscale SoCo ChopHouse opened in February 2021.

“I have been blessed with people today who think in SoCo,” Metcalfe reported.

The destinations of the York and Duck Island franchises replicate Metcalfe’s want to keep SoCo Grille a compact-city affair. He mentioned he wants the franchises to be cost-effective and would not see them as a massive-town idea.

Of wooden-fired pizza, Metcalfe said it is trendy, like craft beer, but all those who attempt it close up stuck on it. SoCo Wooden Fired Pizza’s ovens, he claimed, will be ready to cook a pizza in 90 seconds, 14 at a time. Vegan cheese and gluten-totally free crust will be made available.

And to satisfy the late-night time crowd, the pizzeria will be open up till 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends.

Still, the spot’s TVs will mirror Metcalfe’s drive to foster a household surroundings. A good deal will be showing sports, other folks, Nickelodeon. 

“I definitely experience excellent about the family members surroundings that we give,” Metcalfe claimed, mentioning that SoCo Grille ran out of substantial chairs the other evening. “And the pizza put will be the same way.”

The expansion of the Georgetown group represents a different stage of pride for Metcalfe. The Georgetown Enterprise Association, of which he is a board member, has grown from 36 members in 2021 to more than 100 this calendar year, he mentioned.

“I think as it progresses, as very long as we hold it less than manage, that folks are heading to be pretty thrilled with the conclusion consequence,” Metcalfe stated.