Taylor's Restaurant Changes Hands

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — An employee at Taylor's Steak and Seafood on Holden Street has purchased the restaurant and will make it his own in August.

Jared Decoteau has been working at the restaurant for the last two years, becoming good friends with owner Colleen Taylor. Decoteau had always wanted to run a restaurant, and when Taylor found herself and her brother and business partner Sean Taylor becoming increasingly busy with their own lives, what started as a casual conversation snowballed into a deal.

"It's a feel-good thing. It all unfolded well," Colleen Taylor, who also owns the Freight Yard Pub, said on Thursday. "It feels good and it feels right."

The transfer is pending the liquor license transfer that Decoteau expects in August. When that goes through, Taylor's will close down and Public Eat and Drink will open in the space.

"I was looking to start up a place and she was looking to unload one," Decoteau said. "It's going to be a little more casual. It'll be some smaller plates and sandwiches — a little on the lighter side."

Decoteau expects to go in front of the Planning Board on Monday for approval of his signs. He's already launched a Facebook page.

Public will feature "casual and inventive" dining with live entertainment and a late-night bar menu. Most of the current staff will be retained and the inside will be redecorated a bit, he said.

"I can't take over until the transfer is complete," Decoteau said. "There is a lot I'm still working out."

The new full-service restaurant will be open from 5 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. most days. It will be closed on Tuesday and on Sunday it will be open for brunch.

The Taylor siblings opened the restaurant in 2007, filling the vacant space that had been Gideon's. Colleen Taylor said the restaurant never went on the market because the owners had no intention to sell it immediately. And then the wheels started turning and the conversation became more serious.

"It was a good opportunity for both of us," Taylor said. "There was a seed that was planted. We weren't even looking to do that."

Decoteau said the two were casually discussing the exchange for about a year and the deal became serious. Now Decoteau will have a restaurant of his own and the Taylors get to sell the restaurant to a close friend.

"You always, someday, want to sell your restaurant," Colleen Taylor said. "We're going back to the Freight Yard Pub and square-one."