“I was awakened this morning by a text saying that the investor changed the locks on the restaurant,” reports GM David Hridel. “I flew down to the restaurant to see what was going on.”

It’s a shocking state of affairs, to say the least, for the four-month-old restaurant. That investor, named for the first time by Hridel as Tim Kopp, owner of Ohio Valley Supply, told his partners that “he was done.” He had a locksmith change the locks on the building, effectively locking out all staffers, including chef partners Cory and Rebecca Hess.

“My number one concern is that I have servers’ and bussers’ and bartenders’ tips sitting in a drawer I can’t get into,” Hridel says.

Hridel says that he and the entire staff were blindsided, and that the numbers were right where they needed to be for a young restaurant.

“In my opinion the place was successful, we were building momentum,” he says. “We were paying the bills, the staff was always paid, there was always money in the account. I think [Kopp] expected downtown East Fourth numbers. I’m actually shocked for the first time in a while that this has gone the way that it has.”

Chefs Cory and Rebecca Hess, who have been working and waiting for the restaurant to open for more than three years, are naturally crushed, says Hridel, who is speaking on their behalf.

“They took it really hard,” he says. “It’s still very fresh.”

Calls to Kopp at Ohio Valley Supply went unanswered. The most likely scenario in this case would be that the main investor would either sell the building to another operator or lease the space, though it’s too early to know what will happen next.

We’ll update this page as facts come in.

This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2016.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.

15 replies on “Arcadian is Closed, Staff Locked Out of Building”

  1. Arcadian was a beautiful addition to Gordon Square and a great place with amazing food and craft cocktails. It was our new favorite place, which we introduced to many of our friends. The presentation and service was always exceptional. I am so sad that the restaurant is closed and outraged that the chef owners and staff were blindsided and treated in such a callus manner. Shame on Tim Koop.

  2. I ate there on Saturday, it was our second visit. It was slow but it was early. I asked the server how business was and he said that the baseball games helped out, but things were ok. It’s so new, I can’t believe it. Also, I think the reviews were good. It takes a while for people to find a place like this, a destination place that does high quality, upper level pricing. I will say that the architecture was ambitious for being outside of downtown, which certainly made the grand opening later than normal.

  4. I’m sure that anyone reading this piece of journalism, let alone skimming what comments that are in existence, would be a far cry from their past schooling of the ol’ language arts. Since you’re already here, let me learn ya somethin.

    Greek mythology as it were, being the absolute source of generally all that is awesome and epic in scope and *cough* Game of Thrones *cough* in storytelling, would at some point or another find a home or idea for what could be considered as paradise. (As far as fiction would take it).

    When that idea is stripped down to just one word, all the while being presented with an understandable definition as (I used Wikipedia and likely so would many of you on an impulse) “…an entity that would be an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.” A Utopia perhaps, but the exact word you were looking for would be “Arcadia”. See what I did there?

    So maybe Arcadia was something they couldn’t get, or something they had lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t have really explained anything in the end, at least how it is projected at this moment in time. I don’t think any word can explain one man’s ambition, let alone the impact that it had made with those who had participated in its daily hustle, regardless of staff or guests.

    As with any business that is clearly working during those moments of service, what really separates those who are paid from those who will spend is the uniform. Other then an apron, pen or hat, the staff is out on the town too, and have their own stories to share. There’s this nearly indiscribable balancing act of proffessionalism that should be able to inform, humor and accommodate when upclose or at a distance. This rarely works, but it worked at Arcadian.

    I think I’m ending on a grim note here, but without the output of a flourishing restaurant that was capable of getting anything that it wanted, though not by necessity, but by reflex – Arcadian currently exists as an empty shell of designer Robert Maschke’s latest foray into modern architecture: a desolate building thats pulsing with his visual expression, even though it’s been left for dead.

    And that, is potentially the stuff of legends here folks. And as with any great story, it’ll be distorted, manipulated, cremated, suffixes, etc. However which way that the ultimate demise of this restaurant is going to be defined as, it’s worth noting that it totally kicked major ass for 4 months. *drops mic*

  5. Everyone in the hospitality business is saddened when something like this happens. We at neighboring XYZ the Tavern wish the best for all. Surely there is a lot more story to learn about this, so please don’t start judging until we know what really transpired.

  6. Yes, Batman, the end result for the restaurant was the antithesis of arcadian, but the food, the staff and the decor all came together to create the best darn “pop-up” dining experience in CLE history, as unintentional as that may have been. Truly the stuff of legends…Gordon Square’s own Brigadoon. And legends are cautionary tales. With villains. In this case played by Tim Koop. Unfortunately this closing happened in real time, to real people. Dreams were crushed; jobs lost. A nightmare for those involved, a trite blogging opportunity for the casual observer.

  8. Anybody who know the restaurant business at all knows it often takes FIVE YEARS to really break evenso four months in Gordon Square is NOWHERE NEAR enough time to see if things are going to work. What a waste!

  10. @Lee Hawkins…I’m in the restaurant business have been for 15 years. Never heard the 5 year break even argument. Should be profitable from day 1 if done correctly.

  11. Obviously, Shillary Killton and the emailz are to blame. I’d mention obummer, but that’s so last decade already.

  12. @ ArcadiaNeverWas: Your comment, while sarcastic, may not be so far off the mark. How many employees did this place have? Obamacare and the ridiculous rules that come with it (while having nothing to do with “health care”) could very well have been a factor in their inability to make a profit.

  13. Regardless of how well it should have would have or did do, shuttering up the place in the middle of the night is a total douche move. Glad I know who this a**hole is, I will make it a point to avoid any future endeavors associated with him.

  14. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m a Cleveland business owner and it is not easy. We still live in a small market. Everyone says it’s growing it’s growing!!! For who???

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