Ohio City Galley To Close This Friday

Updated: 1:23 p.m., Friday, Feb. 28, 2020

Ohio City Galley will close up shop Friday, just a little more than a year after opening.

That decision wasn’t communicated to at least two of the restaurants currently operating there until this week.

Brett Sawyer is co-chef and co-owner of both Pie Squared and Grains and Greens. The restaurants just opened in December, Sawyer said.

“Not what we expected,” he said. “If we had known we were going to be in and out in less than three months, we wouldn’t have opened there.”

Launched in 2018 by Galley Group, the collection of eateries with a central bar offered chefs an opportunity to try out new restaurant concepts in a kind of high-end food court. In addition to Sawyer’s restaurants, other Ohio City Galley tenants currently include Sauce the City and The Burger Shop, both operated by Vic Searcy. The Burger Shop opened in December.

“We just really feel bummed out that it happened the way it did, specifically because of all the employees, not just at our booth but in general, that now have no jobs,” Sawyer said. “This isn’t really the height of hiring season for restaurants.”

The experimental food hall offered an opportunity for local chefs to build brand recognition, Sawyer said, and was working well for his restaurants. He and his business partner are discussing the possibility of opening a restaurant somewhere else that would be similar to those they are running in the Galley, Sawyer said.

A variety of factors led to the decision to close, Galley Group Vice President of Operations Chad Ellingboe said in a written statement.

“There were various factors that led to this difficult outcome, among them the decision to scale back our operations,” the statement reads. “We greatly appreciate the support from our guests and the community during our time and wish our Cleveland family the very best.”

Galley Group operates several similar operations across the Midwest, including in Detroit and Pittsburgh. The company’s Fulton Galley in Chicago closed in November, five months after it opened.

The Galley Group’s Detroit location, Fort Street Galley, also announced it will close at the end of Friday after just over a year. A statement on the Detroit location's Facebook page Friday morning said Galley Group has decided to “focus energy on our flagship locations in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis.”

An earlier version of this story reported the Fulton Galley in Detroit closed after five months. The closed Fulton Galley is in Chicago. The Detroit location will close Friday, Feb. 28.