Boston Restaurants Blog: "October 10 update: The Saugus Advertiser has confirmed that the Hilltop Steak House is indeed closing on October 20"
Howie Carr list ping
Posted on 10/10/2013 8:24:33 AM PDT by raccoonradio
SAUGUS (CBS) – After more than 50 years in business, it appears that the Hilltop Steakhouse may be closing its doors.
The famed landmark restaurant on Route 1 is slated to shut down on October 20, as first reported by industry blog Boston Restaurant Talk.
The Phantom Gourmet also made mention of the news on its Facebook page.
In a letter to the town of Saugus, Hilltop management pointed to a decline in business in recent years.
“Over the past several years we have seen a dramatic change in the volume of our business. Tremendous efforts have been made over this period by our management and staff with the cooperation of the town to make improvements and overcome this decline,” the letter said. “However, the continued change in the demographics of our customer base, increased competition and the increased cost to run this fabulous landmark has been too great to overcome.”
The letter noted that Hilltop’s Butcher Shop in Weymouth will continue to operate.
“In closing we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the departments of the Town of Saugus and its wonderful residents for their support and patronage over the last 52 years,” the letter added.
The steakhouse had been featured in the past as one of the best steakhouses in the country.
Why didn’t they sell the place and name?
Hilltop has been running on the fumes from a no longer deserved reputation for at least twenty years. This was inevitable.
Demographics is destiny.
This, “However, the continued change in the demographics of our customer base, increased competition and the increased cost to run this fabulous landmark has been too great to overcome.” sounds like changing tastes and increasing costs have made the business model economically unviable.
Maybe the building will sell, and someone can open a different kind of restaurant in it. However, if the "fabulous landmark" building has become too expensive to maintain (or pay the taxes on), someone could knock it down and put something else on the lot.
That usually happens because of a change in management. Did someone buy them out 20 years ago?
Boston Restaurants Blog: "October 10 update: The Saugus Advertiser has confirmed that the Hilltop Steak House is indeed closing on October 20"
Howie Carr list ping
Probably because the bottom line was not enough to interest investors in the place as a steakhouse.
Selling the name to someone who might not hold to the same standards is a difficulty only someone who has built up a business and reputation can really appreciate I think.
I agree. I was in the Boston area several weeks ago and went there for Dinner. I got a steak that was OK at best. My brother had to send his back. It wasn't very crowded but then again it was a Tuesday evening.
In its heyday there used to be lone lines to get into the restaurant. Probably should have closed long before this as it exhibited the decline that eventually happens to most popular restaurants. When people say, “Not as good as it used to be” the end is near!
They opened up a bunch of satellite restaurants. And then they closed but the butcher shop in Weymouth continues I guess. Isn’t the butcher shop in Saugus now a furniture store...?
Another Route 1 landmark bites the dust...will the ‘Golden Banana’ be next?
I don't have inside info but my impression is that the original management just got old, insular and lazy. Last time I was in the wait staff was beyond geriatric, everything moved in slow motion, it wasn't clean, the food was awful. It was like an Outer Limits episode with the employees trapped inside having to go through the motions until the end of time. Very unpleasant.
I’d go for steak once in a long while and we’d also go for the Sunday breakfast buffet (omelette station etc.) They would only run that certain times of the year, and more recently (early in ‘13) that shifted to a more expensive brunch. Which ended...can see why.
I went there about 30 years ago. I didn’t understand the reputation other that being a bit of a landmark. Not that I my epicurean education was all that advanced at the time, either.
Boston Globe obit, January 2004:
Frank Guiffrida, owned Hilltop Steak House
>>Frank Giuffrida, the founder of Hilltop Steak House, a cavernous eatery in Saugus that became a favorite of meat-loving motorists and admirers of roadside kitsch, died Wednesday at North Shore Medical Center in Lynn, one day after suffering a stroke. He was 86.
Bizjournals.com has an article on this entitled, “Wanna buy a 70 ft cactus?”
In my meager experience, when a business complains of “changing demographics,” they mean their regulars are leaving. That is more likely due to a decline in quality than for any other reason, even prices.
“Change in Demographics” literally means all their customers moved away, and I highly doubt that happened. In this case it appears the restaurant is blaming the customers. The owners must be Democrats.
Their customers got old and could not longer chew real steaks so they opt for the country fried steak early bird special at Dennys?
Frank Guiffrida died some time ago. This was His baby. As Frank went...so went the Hilltop.
Well, at least the cow (or one of its predecessors) will live on in history as one of the objects to make it to the top of MIT dome.
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