When she opened 1910 Main, an upscale American restaurant in downtown Forest Grove, in 2011, Kathy Compton planned to run the business for about five years before selling it. Now, four years later, she hopes to pass the torch a bit early.
“It may not seem like a big business,” Compton said. “But it’s a big business for one person to run.”
Compton has listed the business and buildings of her restaurant, its recently opened around-the-corner extension, Small Plates, and a storage area for sale with Portland-based real estate firm Norris Stevens Inc. Though the firm’s website lists the sale price as $2 million, with a lease rate of $13-$15.75 per square foot, Compton said the listing is inaccurate and the sale price has not been disclosed.
Having previously owned and run a smaller business in town, the now closed Café Bouchée, Compton said she didn’t expect 1910 Main’s operations to be exhausting. But four years of managing staff and payroll, catering offsite events and creating all the recipes for a seasonally changing menu have caught up with her, she said.
Compton said she’s tried bringing in additional hands to help ease her ceaseless task list, but nothing has worked out.
She said she plans to sell the restaurant fully furnished in hopes that a buyer will maintain the business as it is. And while she can’t control what a buyer does once a deal is signed, she said, she’ll choose whom to sell to with this objective in mind.
In the meantime, Compton said, 1910 Main and Small Plates will be “business as usual.” She said she intends to maintain an unchanged level of quality and service for as long as she owns the business.
Compton also noted that Main Street Dental, her husband’s dental practice, which shares a building with the restaurant at 1910 Main St. in Forest Grove, will not be sold or changed.
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