The Ground Round returns after two decades

There’s a smell of popcorn in the air and murmurs of Pay What You Weigh Night at the Ground Round. The once-popular restaurant chain celebrated its grand re-opening on Wednesday with a new location in Shrewsbury.

Howard Johnson’s started the franchise in Shrewsbury back in 1969 in an effort to convert underperforming locations for traveling guests into family-friendly neighborhood destinations. The brand grew to over 200 locations in the 1980s with zany draws like soft-serve in mini baseball cap cups and televisions playing old cartoons. It lost out to other fast-casual chains over the following decades and filed for bankruptcy in 2004, the same year the original location shut its doors.

Twenty years later, Joseph and Nachi Shea bought the branding rights. They opened their first Ground Round a short distance from the original location.

“ We're just a husband and wife team,” said Joseph Shea in the midst of renovations back in January. “We don't have investors or deep pockets. We're bootstrapping this.”

The Sheas each have their own memories of visiting the Ground Round in their youth. Joseph Shea recalled sitting at a long table with his teammates. Nachi Shea’s mother worked on the cleaning crew at the original Ground Round for years. “I actually remember on a couple different occasions going to the Ground Round after hours with her, or before opening,” she said.

A community of Ground Round enthusiasts with similar fondness for the old days have followed the Sheas’ progress on social media. People from across the country have reached out to the couple with requests to open new locations in their towns and listings of vacant restaurant properties.

Nachi Shea said people have even gifted the Sheas with their Ground Round memorabilia from years past. “ People have brought in different menus. They've brought in employee manuals from the old one. We had a lady bring in her old suspenders from when she used to work at the original Ground Round here in town.”

Some of these items are on display in the restaurant. Exposed wood beams and a stone fireplace give the main dining room a comfortable cabin feel.

The decor includes many odes to the Ground Rounds of the past. A carousel horse may remind visitors of a similar one at the original Shrewsbury location. An antique scale beckons memories of Pay What You Weigh Nights, a special the Sheas have shared will be making a comeback with the same cent per pound pricing model (with the accompanying purchase of an adult entree).

The Sheas hope that this blend of modern appeal and nostalgic pull is enough to bring guests through the door, at least for a first visit. But there’s another reason that the Ground Round may be better poised for success in the 2020s than it was in the late ‘90s and early 2000s: a national upward trend in fast casual restaurants.

Steve Clark, president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, explained the driving forces behind that swing. “ The cost of everything is up. Inflation, household budgets, et cetera,” said Clark, who also shared that he remembers eating salty popcorn at the Ground Round after little league games as a child. “The consumer wants the experience they're getting from a full service dining restaurant, but they don't want the price that you have to get from a fine dining place.”

Shannon Woodward, the restaurant’s chef, remembered looking forward to the ice cream at the Ground Round from his childhood as he describes the “ooey gooey chocolate mousse,” served in a mini flower pot with cookie crumbs for dirt and candy worms. “ We're gonna have the old school classics,” said Woodward. “Hand cut New York sirloins and steaks, all USDA Choice. All stuff done in house. All scratch cooking. . . . We’re looking forward to taking care of families and children and bringing back the old with the new.”

The soft opening in early April quickly became a full opening as word spread. Popular dishes so far have included the steak tips, burgers, fish and chips, cheddar and broccoli soup and the mozzarella half moons.

Patrons Kristen Richards and Heather Dudko sipped lemon drop and blueberry bella cocktails at the bar on their first visit to this Ground Round. They reminisced about the days when beer was their drink of choice and the Worcester Ground Round location was an industry hangout for fellow wait staff. Richards noted that she sees the enduring appeal. “ It's not overly expensive, and it’s a family atmosphere,” she said. “I just think people are craving this type of a place.”

The phone rang every couple of minutes after doors opened on a Thursday afternoon. The front of the parking lot and bar were already full, and there was a wait to be seated. It was a bustling scene, and there may be more like it in the future since the Sheas didn’t just purchase the franchise rights for this one location. They bought the rights to the Ground Round brand.

Joseph Shea tempered expectations as he stood beside a noisy popcorn machine. “We're solely focused on Shrewsbury,” he said. “We wanna make sure we get it right here, then we’ll see what the future holds.”