Fish Brewing Pub and Eatery at Point Ruston has closed permanently

Fish Brewing Pub and Eatery at Point Ruston has closed its doors permanently, about 14 months after it opened.

“It’s sad. We put a lot of time, effort and money in this space. It’s disappointing,” said Sal Leone, president and CEO of Fish Brewing.

Leone said a number of factors resulted in the closure, but ultimately the restaurant did not have enough business to keep the doors open. Its last day of business was Sunday.

He said the planned Silver Cloud hotel at the retail-residential development probably would have meant more consistent business, but the hotel opening is months away.

“It stopped being profitable in September,” Leone of the brewpub. “Just dramatic drops (in business).”

He said the losses were steep enough that he thought closing the location immediately was the safest strategy.

“I couldn’t survive the losses, so we decided to cut our losses and protect the rest of the business,” said Leone.

The pub was an outpost of Fish Brewing in Olympia, which also runs a brewery and restaurant in Olympia and a tasting room in Woodinville.

The Olympia brewpub, Fish Tales, will continue to operate downtown, and brewery operations will continue as they always have, said Leone. He encouraged fans of the brewpub to come visit the Olympia location.

The Point Ruston restaurant opened in December 2017 and was a much larger and different style than the original Olympia pub.

The Point Ruston restaurant featured a raw oyster bar, a small on-site brewing operation, an expansive dining room that seated about 200 and a menu that mirrored the offerings at the Olympia pub — burgers, sandwiches, pub specialties and a long list of beer, wine and cider.

Leone said the market for brewpubs is difficult at the moment.

In Oregon, a number of notable breweries have closed in recent months. Bridgeport Brewing closed this month, and both Portland Brewing and Widmer Brothers Brewing closed their public-facing locations (but both continue as brewing businesses).

“There’s a lot of taproom and brewpub competition, and so that’s one factor,” said Leone. “We’re challenged a little bit in all locations, but we’re holding our own in Olympia.”

Point Ruston came with a number of challenges, he said.

Leone said he suspects that the shift to parking limitations at Point Ruston also contributed to a downturn in business.

“From the time they implemented the paid parking, we’ve had nothing but decreases,” he said. “I think paid parking, even though we validate, scared some people.”

He said the weather is a factor with fewer crowds drawn to the waterfront development in the winter season.

Leone said managers also had trouble predicting the size of crowds.

“Trying to run a business where you’re busy two to three days a week and where you’re slow four days a week created some challenges,” he said. “It’s a challenge when your business fluctuates dramatically from the weekdays and weekends and from summer verses the winter.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 9:00 AM.