by Kristen Wile

Dogwood: A Southern Table & Bar is closing. The restaurant, part of Rare Roots Hospitality (Dressler’s, Fin & Fino, The Porter’s House), opened nearly nine years ago serving Southern fare in the shopping center behind Whole Foods. It has now been sold, and will be replaced by a new concept from RedSalt’s David Burke, according to CBJ.

Rare Roots co-owner Jon Dressler says the sale was spurred on by the natural life cycle of restaurants, as well as the upcoming opening of Chapter Six in South End, which will take place near the time of Dogwood’s closure. The staff at Dogwood will be given the opportunity to shift to another of the restaurants within the Rare Roots concepts. 

“Restaurants see a good run up in the first few years and then they kind of level off,” Dressler says.  “It’s incumbent upon the restaurant to keep it growing because your costs are going to continue going up, your rent is going to continue going up. And if your sales are not going up commensurately, that makes it a little bit more difficult.”

According to Dressler, sales at the restaurant were flat. Because the restaurant’s lease was still attractive to buyers and with the opening of a new concept elsewhere that could absorb the staff, he felt it was best to sell.

“I just wasn’t sure what that trend would continue to look like in the next 3 to 5 years, and figure it’s just better to sell than see what goes on,” he says.

Dogwood has been an incubator for some of the city’s mixology talents, including Fin & Fino’s Brittany Kellum, Dressler’s JoAn Cook, and The Crunkleton’s Eli Privette, who all worked with longtime beverage director Brian Lorusso before moving on to lead bar programs. 

Dogwood’s last day of service will take place in late August.