Frank, the farm-fresh Beverly hybrid restaurant-bakery-market from L’Espalier’s Frank McClelland, faces an uncertain future. McClelland opened Frank in 2019, hoping to succeed in a smaller city where guests would enjoy L’Espalier-level food at a more accessible price point.
“It’s not like we all of a sudden aren’t good cooks or doing accurate service . . . but it’s at a quarter of the price for the customer,” he said when Frank opened. L’Espalier, long a bastion of Boston fine dining, closed in 2018.
Now, McClelland says that he’s in the “middle of restructuring” the more casual spot and hopes to reopen in some capacity after meeting with his team this week. The restaurant ceased operations last week.
“It needed to be done,” he says. “We told employees exactly what we’re doing and obviously support them if they want to look for another position somewhere else.”
The restaurant lasted through COVID-19. But, McClelland says, “It’s a young man’s game. I’m not as spry.”
Still, he says he believes in the small-city location.
“A lot of studies have revealed that people are moving out of large hub cities for lifestyle but still working there. Mass transit lines are growing rapidly, especially in these small cities, and people are finding a really nice lifestyle and a lower cost of living,” he told the Globe in 2019.
He’s also optimistic that there’s a second act for Frank, somehow, but perhaps in a different incarnation or format.
“This was a good time for us to reexamine things. It’s as simple as that,” he says.
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her @kcbaskin.