Adam Easterling stepped away from a nursing career two years ago to open Lunch on Main downtown. Just last month he rebranded his successful restaurant to offer a more streamlined and specialized lunch option to the city's business district.
Easterling always wanted to own and run his own business, and says he basically had a menu created in his mind before he decided to open Lunch on Main. With sandwiches like the Main (hot pastrami, Swiss cheese, red onion marmalade and a few other ingredients), and a few gourmet hot dog offerings, Easterling created a restaurant that offers locally sourced lunch for less than $7.
“I always loved cooking and trying out new combinations and recipes, so I opened a restaurant," Easterling says.
Early in January, Easterling decided to rebrand Lunch on Main as
The Good Dog. He now offers a large selection of hot dogs with locally sourced ingredients. For $5, Easterling has creations like the Voodoo Child, a hot dog from Avril-Bleh & Sons, topped with Caribbean jerk sauce, grilled onion, papaya and red pepper. Or try the Mediterranean inspired Kraken, a dog topped with hummus, tzatziki, pepperoncini, kalamata olives and feta cheese.
“I wanted to rebrand to offer a more specialized approach,” says Easterling. “There aren’t many gourmet hot dog places around, and now the service and preparation is much more streamlined, so we can lower the price.”
So far, Easterling has gotten positive responses from customers. He and his three employees work from 10 am – 3pm, Monday-Friday, but plan on extending the hours to 8 pm in early spring. While being downtown leads to plenty of foot traffic, Easterling knows more businesses nearby would help even more.
“There are a lot of good things opening up and downtown in on the mend,” Easterling says. “More things opening up isn’t competition, it's just better for everyone.”
By Evan Wallis
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