ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180041
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
So you're 22 years old, you enjoy music and Blacksburg, and you're about to graduate from Virginia Tech but your job prospects are dim. What do you do?
You talk your dad into buying South Main Cafe so you can reopen Blacksburg's landmark music spot.
That's exactly what Kirstin Unger, with freshly minted Tech diploma in hand, has done. The paperwork for the sale should be completed in July, and Unger and her associates plan to open in August in time for the return of students for fall semester.
"It seemed to be everybody's dream in this town, really. I don't know how many of my friends here have talked about how great it would be to reopen South Main Cafe," Unger said recently at the restaurant while taking a break from renovations. Unger said when she opens for business, the restaurant will have much the same look and feel that it did before.
The cafe closed more than a year ago amid complaints by owner Linda Ruth Schwab that students weren't patronizing the restaurant-cum-music stage enough. During her 20 years of ownership, Schwab was able to showcase local and up-and-coming regional talent, such as .38 Special, the Dave Matthews Band and Hootie and the Blowfish, earning the establishment a far-flung reputation.
"It was extremely frustrating to bring in the kind of phenomenal people I brought in only to have people not come out because it's a Tuesday night," Schwab said.
Chef Jim Lampley said he made his decision to take the plunge when he was in New Orleans for the Jazz Fest and met someone from New Mexico who had heard of the South Main Cafe.
Unger, Lampley and co-owner John Peacock, 24, a Tech student in hospitality and tourism management who is taking a year off to help start the business, say they will retain much of South Main Cafe's old feel, including its name, but they also plan to try a few tacks that Schwab didn't. Lampley, 22, a friend of Peacock, recently moved to Blacksburg from Nashville to cook at the restaurant. He has worked with master chefs and attended culinary school for a year.
The three will turn the atrium into a gourmet coffee shop that will allow smoking, unlike Blacksburg's other coffee houses, and the menu will feature pasta and sandwiches that will be more suited to college-student budgets and tastes. They will try to price their entrees at less than $5, and the menu will include red meat like roast beef. The bar will feature a selection of popular beers when their ABC license is approved.
"It's going to be so different than the previous South Main," Unger said. "The menu will be a lot more accommodating. We're going to try to open it up to everyone."
Unger is well aware that running a start-up business, especially a restaurant in a college town, means lots of hard work and long hours. The sign in front of the business recently read, "Happiness is being too busy to be miserable."
Lots of work "is not a problem," Unger said, adding that she already works up to12 hours a day at the restaurant.
"We got the workload taken care of," Lampley said.
Schwab and Blacksburg restaurant owners say the town's college-oriented market makes business an ordeal.
Running South Main Cafe "wasn't easy. It was an extremely difficult lifestyle. There has to be something far beyond financial gain that motivates you to still do it," said Schwab, who has music contacts as far away as San Francisco.
She was forced to close the restaurant's doors after the renovation that added the atrium proved to be more expensive than she anticipated.
"We kind of went over our heads when we did the re-modeling. It just turned into a domino thing."
Schwab is now a real estate agent and says she wishes she "had quit years ago. Now I have a family."
As for Unger, Schwab said, "I just wish her luck."
Other Blacksburg restaurant owners echo Schwab's experiences.
"Running a restaurant is difficult under ideal situations but it's extremely difficult in a college town where your population fluctuates as much as it does here, so you have to be able to adjust accordingly," said Ren Gillie, owner and operator of Gillie's on College Avenue.
The heartaches range from spoiled food to paying the bills.
"I go home, but the job never ends," she said.
Steve Guiffr, owner of the Hokie House on Main Street, said his concerns are keeping up with the legal matters that include taxes, licenses, contracts and bookkeeping; quality control; high staff turnover; and advertising.
"Her big challenge is going to be to offer something that other people don't offer," Guiffr said, which may be the building itself. "She's got probably the best building to have bands in Blacksburg. They have that balcony overlooking the stage."
"Music is needed here," said Unger, who will handle booking and bookkeeping for the business. "Pedro's is doing a good job, but they kind of have a monopoly right now."
Pedro's has been adopted by some of the local bands that formerly played at the South Main Cafe and is one of the few establishments in Blacksburg that host live music.
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON Staff Kirstin Unger will get helpby CNBoperating the South Main Cafe from James Lampley and Jonathan
Peacock (right). color.