This year, Parlour added its fifth location in a Louisville suburb when a local pizzeria owner called Robinson saying he was ready to retire. The sales at that location slowly rose as the city of Louisville's downtown region reopened, and now it's one of Parlour's top locations. "The feedback we were getting - it just felt right. "Once we started opening the other Parlour locations, we felt we had a concept that could grow and could scale," Robinson said. It was then that Robinson said they decided to reopen the downtown restaurant as a Parlour. One side was a trendy upscale restaurant and the other was a barbecue concept.Īfter the state reopened for 45 days, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear shut the state down again after another wave of COVID infections. They also leased a space in downtown Louisville, "and our intention there was that we were going to do two concepts with a shared kitchen," Robinson said. When it shut down due to COVID regulations in the state, Robinson said they decided to reopen it as a Parlour in June 2020.Īfter a pizzeria shut down in nearby New Albany, Indiana, that building was purchased by Robinson's team and turned into a Parlour in December 2020. They owned another restaurant in Louisville called Craft House, which served more upscale bar food. They decided to expand during the pandemic, a move Robinson admits was "crazy," but he saw plenty of opportunities in the area. Louisville residents flooded Southern Indiana restaurants, and Robinson's team got plenty of positive comments about the product and the concept. We just thought it would be a side investment."ĬOVID hit in March 2020, and Robinson said they realized they were on to something special when Indiana opened restaurants back up but Kentucky stayed shut down. "It was just the coolest place in Jeffersonville and we liked the vibe. "Our intention was never to grow it," Robinson said. Photo by Willie Lawless, Networld Media Group He sent a text to his friend who owned the business in 2019 telling him he was interested in buying Parlour "and he called me in 30 seconds and said 'We're taking offers,'" Robinson said.ĭon Robinson, CEO and president of Parlour in the Louisville, Kentucky, area.
Robinson is not new to the restaurant business - he's been a Penn Station sandwich brand franchisee for more than 20 years. There were multiple partners who owned the restaurant at the time, and Robinson knew one.
"It's where my wife and I would meet friends after work for a beer and pizza, and it was a cool environment," said Don Robinson, CEO and president. The brand focuses on craft pizza, craft beer and craft cocktails. Meet Parlour, a five-unit concept that began in Jeffersonville, Indiana, just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky, in 2017.
Today's pizzerias are all about putting the craft at the forefront of operations. Gone are the days of the checkered tablecloths and Chianti-bottle candles. has brought about a revolution in the industry. The rise of craft beer and pizza in the U.S.
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