The owners of Iron Rooster in Annapolis are planning an expansion of the restaurant’s footprint on Market Space, including taking over the former City Dock Coffee location next door.
The plans, currently under consideration by the Annapolis Board of Appeals, would see the all-day breakfast restaurant, which occupies 12-14 Market Space, expand into the two adjoining units at 16 and 18 Market Space, roughly doubling its kitchen space and adding approximately 25 additional seats, said Phil Dales, the attorney representing Iron Rooster’s majority owner Carl Werner.
The restaurant’s current kitchen is too small to accommodate the number of customers it serves, Werner said at a Feb. 1 appeals board public hearing. As a result, during peak season between April and November, the restaurant commonly has a wait time anywhere from one to two hours, he said.
The doubled kitchen space would allow Werner to hire more workers to meet demand, and use the additional seating to host private parties and other special events.
“If you were to see the size of our kitchen compared to the capacity we put out right now, it’s phenomenal,” said Werner, an Annapolis area resident who retired from government contracting to open the restaurant in 2014. “A new kitchen is going to allow us to expedite how fast food goes out and to be able to maintain health standards that are required.”
As is common practice, the hearing for the restaurant’s special exception application was left open until the board’s next meeting on Feb. 16.
The proposed plans would expand the restaurant’s seating across all four units and two floors, increasing the maximum seating capacity from about 228 seats to 251 seats. A large kitchen would occupy nearly all of the first floor of 16 Market Space and a prep kitchen in the back of 18 Market Space, where the restaurant’s popular toaster pastries would be made. The plans also show new bathrooms being installed on the second floor of that unit.
No construction start date has yet been set because the owners still need to acquire additional permits once the special exception is approved, but the hope is to be open by next winter, Dales said.
The planned expansion comes as five businesses around Market Space have secured individual short-term lease agreements with the city to continue serving customers outdoors with the freedom to use the space for “special programming,” such as festivals, markets, event watch parties, movie nights and live music.
Outdoor dining has been a lifeline for restaurants forced to scale back capacity during the coronavirus pandemic to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Expanding Iron Rooster’s indoor seating will help serve more customers during the coldest and warmest months, Dales said.
Iron Rooster moved into Market Space in 2014, taking over the former location of Maria’s Sicilian Ristorante & Cafe. The following year, Werner applied to expand the restaurant into 16 Market Space, once occupied by The Pink Crab. Despite getting approval, the owner instead opted to create the Iron Rooster General Store located there now. The Pink Crab operated in the space from 2006 to 2015 before moving a few units down to 30 Market Space.
The City Dock Coffee Market Space location closed permanently in October 2020 and has remained vacant over the last 16 months. It was the last of the business’ six locations in Anne Arundel County to close.
Werner, who owns the restaurant along with several other minority stakeholders, will be leasing the properties associated with the expansion, Dales said.
