Interview With Worcester Restaurant Group President, Caitlyn Carolan
Voice of Business – WCRN AM 830
February 2022
President, Worcester Restaurant Group
Hank Stolz:
I’m Hank Stolz and we’re very pleased to welcome to the program Caitlin Carolyn President Worcester restaurant group Caitlin. Good morning.
Caitlyn Carolyn:
Good morning. Thank you for having me
Hank Stolz:
Caitlin. tell us a little bit about the Worcester Restaurant Group. What is the group comprised of?
Caitlyn Carolyn:
We have three restaurants: The Sole Proprietor, which just celebrated its 42nd birthday in December; 111 Chop House, which just turned 23; and VIA Italian Table, our youngest restaurant at 15is soon to be 15
Hank Stolz:
Caitlin. what do you think makes a great restaurant? Because those are three of the great restaurants in, in Worcester. I mean, hey Liam Neeson comes to film a movie in Worcester, where does he end up If not at all three? He certainly ends up at the at The Sole and that’s the case for so many people.
Caitlyn Carolyn:
I think that what makes up a great restaurant is great food and great service. Over the years, we’ve worked hard to deliver both. My parents started all three of the restaurants. They have worked so hard to make sure that every customer that comes through the door experiences the best food, the freshest food, the highest quality food and that everybody enjoys personalized service and feels well cared for.
We always s “Come for the food. Stay for the service.” And I think that holds true now more than ever. I think, at the end of the day, people want to go out, they want to have great food and they want to be well cared for. That’s what great hospitality is all about.
Hank Stolz:
Could you tell us a little bit about the food for each restaurant? Let’s start with The Sole.
Caitlyn Carolyn:
The Sole Proprietor is our seafood restaurant. What made The Sole different however from the start more than 40 years ago is that we bring in our fish fresh daily. The menu is pretty tried and true, nice, and simple. If you really love seafood, you want to come in and you want to be able to get a New England lobster. You want to be able to have maybe a lobster bake or a lobster roll or have crab legs or fresh fish. And we you know, that is the heart of our menu is you know making sure that those very simple delicious items are forefront and our menu.
Voice of Business – WCRN AM 830
Hank Stolz:
Worcester is changing and one of the things that people have talked about obviously the last few years is the fact that many restaurants are opening in Worcester, including some upscale restaurants that are scheduled to open in the next year. You proved many years ago with the 111 Chop House that Worcester certainly has a market for individuals who are looking for a very nice night out. Whether it is business dinner or a special night out with a loved one.
Can you talk to us a little bit about what to expect at what it was like opening 111 Chop House 23 years ago? I mean it really was something new. It was unique when it first opened in Worcester.
Caitlyn Carolyn:
It certainly was. We were so fortunate to be busy and have such a big following right from the beginning. A lot of times with restaurants, it starts a little slow and then you need to build. With the Chophouse, it was an instant success. There was a need in the city for a high-quality prime steakhouse. At the end of the day, we’re so proud that we can offer the highest quality prime meat at a price that we feel is fair to our customers. We’re serving the same quality meat as the high-end steakhouses in Boston and other big cities, but we’re able to offer our dinners little bit less (cost-wise).
Hank Stolz:
That brings us to the to the “baby” of the three WRG restaurants. Can you tell us a little bit about VIA Italian Table? Did it just “take off” right away, too?
Caitlyn Carolyn:
VIA was a passion project for my mom and dad. My mom being Italian we grew up with some great Italian food when I was little. We still do! My grandmother was a fantastic cook, and my mother is a fantastic cook and so is my father.
The inspiration for VIA came from a combination of family recipes combined with experiences from traveling to Italy several times. My mom and dad had these amazing recipes that they enjoyed while throughout Italy – from Northern Italy to southern Italy. There’s history each area and the cuisine are different, too. For this reason, VIA is not traditional to one area of Italy. We’ve pulled recipes and family traditions from all over the country.
We combined this passion for Italian food with our family’s experience knowing how to operate a restaurant (after The Sole and 111 Chop House). It wasn’t as if that was the very first one, we had opened. With VIA, it was just about bringing this amazing Italian cuisine to Worcester… and executing our version of it. I think what we achieved is an approachable restaurant for so many people. Our food is Italian comfort food, The atmosphere is about family and celebrating life together over a great meal. It’s about enjoying a great evening or a great holiday and having a big bowl of pasta and something delicious and some great wine to drink. That’s what VIA is all about.
Hank Stolz:
Absolutely. Now Monday is Valentine’s Day. Are you going to be busy this weekend? Are there some Valentine’s Day theme specials at any of that the restaurants? Anything that they need to know about?
Caitlyn Carolyn:
We are excited. We are anticipating a very busy Valentine’s Day weekend. We’re just so fortunate to, be pushing ourselves a little bit further (past the Covid pandemic). And further long toward normal where, people are going out more and booking more restaurant reservations. We are so fortunate for that.
Over the years we’ve always found that doing something special for one day, or one night is challenging. And at the end of the day, our customers usually just want to come in and eat from our regular menu (rather than a special Valentine’s Day menu). We’ve found over the years of doing specials for one night is just can be challenging sometimes and we just like to focus on what we do best which is taking care of our customers and putting out our all menus and executing them very well. That said, we will have our full menu available at all three of our restaurants. For example, the Chop House is going to be featuring its prime rib that we do on Friday and Saturday evenings. We will make that available on Monday so people can enjoy that. It’s really, delicious.
Take out will also be a big part of Valentine’s Day weekend. Some people prefer to stay home and enjoy the food in the comfort of their home.
We’ve also found that Valentine’s Day dinners over the years have come to be really a family holiday too (and not just about couples dining out). We see lots of parents with their children, coming in for a nice dinner. We look forward to seeing lots of couples and lots of families this upcoming weekend
Hank Stolz:
Wonderful, that’s terrific. Hey, thank you so much and continued success at The Sole, 111 Chop House and VIA Italian Table!