Business & Tech

Moorestown CEO Plans French Bistro for Vacant Friendly's

Burris Construction CEO Bill Burris unveiled plans for the new Main Street restaurant Thursday.

How does French cuisine on Main Street sound?

Nearly two years after Friendly’s—a Main Street mainstay for nearly 40 years—closed, local construction magnate Bill Burris unveiled plans to convert the vacant restaurant into a 120-seat French bistro.

Burris, flanked by Mayor Stacey Jordan and Deputy Mayor Chris Chiacchio, announced the news outside the future bistro’s front doors Thursday morning.

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The Burris Construction CEO explained how for a number of years he used to start his mornings off at the former Moore’s Town Cafe on Chester Avenue, across from the post office.

“I would kind of get my day organized, meet business associates there,” he said. “And then it closed. And you’re looking around and you’re saying, ‘Where can I really just go and have a meeting and have some breakfast?’ ... A couple people said, ‘Why don’t you buy Friendly’s and have some fun with that and do something unique?’”

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That sounded like a good idea to Burris, who already owns one highly successful restaurant—Black Whale Bar & Fish House in Beach Haven.

So he enlisted the services of architect Jeff Wells—“a creative genius,” Burris said—as well as Olivier Desaintmartin, executive chef and owner of two acclaimed Philadelphia French bistros (Caribou Cafe and Zinc Bar) and member of the Maitres Cuisiniers de France, to design the restaurant, "Gusteau."

Why French? “It’s one of my favorites,” explained Burris. “The guys who do Italian in this town do a great job. There’s no French bistros here.”

In addition to Desaintmartin’s restaurants, Burris pointed to acclaimed bistros like Bouchon and Benoit as sources of inspiration.

Gusteau—the name is pulled directly from Pixar’s Ratatouille, one of Burris’s favorite films apparently—will have indoor as well as outdoor seating in a “private … garden setting and sidewalk cafe.” The bakery will also serve classic French confections.

“We’re thinking about a great Parisian sidewalk cafe,” Burris said, “and a place where people can hang out, and maybe bring their little doggies. We would like to be dog-friendly to the extent that we can.”

Burris and his partners are targeting a late spring 2014 opening, which Wells said is a very realistic timeline.

“Bill moves faster than anyone I’ve ever seen,” Wells remarked.

Burris said he’s in the process of purchasing the property, and expects the deal to close the middle of next month.

Furthermore, Burris said he’s “not at all” concerned about the lack of a liquor license for the property, referring to a handful of other restaurants owned by his business partners at the Black Whale that are dry and very successful.

Jordan and Chiacchio said they were elated to have an exciting new business opening on Main Street, and praised Burris for his commitment to the town.

“He’s brought a lot of business, a lot of ratables to our town,” said Jordan. “And knowing what Bill has done (with Black Whale), and bringing a restaurant of that quality and caliber here to Moorestown—Moorestonians will be excited to be here and be part of this.”

Chiacchio said Burris’s venture—which Burris estimated will cost roughly $1.5 million—is a validation of all the work the township has done over the last few years to revitalize Moorestown.

“When you see developers investing significant amounts of money in our town … you see these projects—this is proof that what we’re doing in this town is right,” said the deputy mayor. “There are towns that would love to have this type of investment going on.”


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