With more than a dozen new businesses opening on Mill Avenue this year, several new and old executives are looking to team up to establish a stronger presence on the street.
New businesses such as Robbie Fox’s Public House and Canteen Modern Tequila Bar are reaching out to one another to combine energy and effort to increase their success on the street.
“We’re making it a team effort to create synergy,” said Mike Aiton, general manager of Robbie Fox’s. “We’d rather work together than go after each other.”
Aiton added that success for one business is ultimately positive for all businesses nearby, saying it will lead to increased revenue for all businesses on the street.
“If everyone’s busy, it’s a good thing,” Aiton said. “We love new restaurants.”
Stan’s Metro Deli, which reopened on Mill Avenue in September after being closed since 1998, recognized its connection with Robbie Fox’s by naming a corned beef sandwich at the restaurant “The ‘Robbie Fox’ Fair Play Special,” Aiton said.
In addition to reaching out to restaurants like Stan’s, Robbie Fox’s also currently allows patrons to travel to other nearby bars, such as the newly opened Canteen Tequila bar, by traveling to adjacent patios.
Aiton said that by having someone at the patios checking IDs, they can make the patrons’ experience more enjoyable by allowing them to avoid lines at other bars, instead moving to and from restaurants just by moving from one patio to the next.
“Arizona is a patio city,” Aiton said. “So, allowing people to move from bar to bar through the patios just makes sense.”
Canteen owner Julian Wright, who also operates La Bocca Urban Pizzaria and Wine Bar, said the friendly atmosphere among business owners on the street is one of the elements that drew him to do business on it.
“One of the things I like about Mill Avenue is that all of the businesses out here are pretty much friendly,” Wright said. “We’re all good friends, and we all really have Mill Avenue’s best intentions in mind.”
Wright added that he believes more businesses opening on Mill can be seen as a sign of strength.
He said that being aware of how other restaurants are doing is very important in operating a restaurant, as their successes or failures can affect the businesses around them.
However, familiarity with other restaurants does not involve strictly being friendly to them for Wright.
He also recognizes the competitive nature that being so close to so many other restaurants and bars presents.
Wright said that one of the reasons Canteen opened in the location it did was because he contacted the building’s landlord early, sensing failure of the previous business that was there.
“Everyone in this business smells blood when they see a restaurant going down,” Wright said. “If they spend all the money building it out, why not come in and scoop it up?”
Canteen bar manager Clint Manning added that being aware of other businesses on Mill and other places was an important aspect he recognized when creating the drink list for the bar.
“Me and Julian went to several bars on Mill,” Manning said. “[Canteen’s menu] came from a lot of research checking out tequila bars around the world.”
Reach the reporter at Michael.reppenhagen@asu.edu
