Saints and Scholars Case Study

Two years ago, Adrian Webb and Amanda Stoffel were preparing for their first Saint Paddy’s Day at Finaughty’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. It was too be a grand party with Guinness and green beer kegs lining the hallways, corned beef brining, and a lineup of singers, Irish dancers, and bagpipes, however Covid hit and restaurants were mandated to close.

Adrian and Amanda had moved to Snoqualmie Ridge in November 2017 and purchased Finaughty’s in October 2019. Both of Adrian’s parents are from Ireland, his mom from Dublin and dad from Belfast. While he grew up in California the family spent many summers visiting Ireland and the pub was a way to share the fun-loving, friendly and inviting spirit of Ireland with their Snoqualmie community.

But due to the mandated closures and the realization that the pub was not in very good shape, the couple decided in March 2020 to close. They planned to reopen in a few months, but realized that too much equipment needed to be replaced and redesigning and adding a hood would allow them to reopen a reimaged and improved business.

As time went on, Amanda and Adrian realized almost everything in the pub needed to be replaced. They brought in The Gilkey Restaurant Consulting Group to assist them in designing a new kitchen and bar. Once the drawings were done and the layout was improved, no longer a pub first and restaurant second. Their intention now was to open a great restaurant in an authentic Irish pub atmosphere.

Amanda and Adrian had hoped to fix up the restaurant on their own, but the couple decided to involve a contractor and in January 2021, they chose the Irish Pub Company for the interior design. Based out of Dublin, the Irish Pub Company specializes in designing authentic Irish pubs worldwide.

The Irish Pub Company builds everything and all the wood, art, furniture, glass, and mirrors come from Ireland. Everything is made in Ireland and is shipped over in containers, but again with the results of the pandemic, their containers were delayed resulting in postponing the reopening.

Over the redesign time frame Amanda and Adrian determined they would rebrand the concept to Saints and Scholars. Ireland is known as the land of saints and scholars, so this theme will be represented throughout the pub.

Our services included kitchen & bar design consulting, menu development, recipe development, operations consulting, management recruitment, development and implementation of all culinary operating systems, management training, coordination of pre-opening training, and launch.