STORY — For more than a decade, Claire Becraft has served the Story area choice tenderloins, burgers, beer and more at Trails End and the PanHead Saloon.
This year, she’s rebranding, but don’t worry — the tenderloins aren’t going anywhere.
The building, built in 1979, had come to a point where it needed a lot of repair. The restaurant had also reached a point where something different needed to be done, she said. That’s when customer-turned-business partner Jeff Marshall came into the picture.
He’s brought repairs and maintenance to the table, as well as the idea and experience to serve pizza at the restaurant, now called Stonehead Pizza Co. at Trails End.
Becraft said that she’d been asked repeatedly to serve pizza, since there are no establishments in Van Buren Township that do. Last year, Becraft found her business closed due to the pandemic, and didn’t think that she could reopen successfully with limited seating. She was also concerned for her health and being around the public during the pandemic.
Marshall and Becraft had talked business before, with him being a customer at Trails End as well as mowing the property. But the timing was never right for them to collaborate. Finally, last July, Marshall approached Becraft, and everything "fell together beautifully."
Marshall had been thinking about opening a pizza place for quite some time and had different locations he was considering.
"I thought maybe the best thing to do would be to form a partnership," he said. "I come in and help with the building, get it up to par, and bring the pizza end of the business in."
She said when going into business with another person, one might not "know what you’re getting into."
<a href="http://www.bcdemocrat.com/2021/05/21/trails_end_restaurant_rebranding_to_serve_pizza_and_more/photo-6393/" rel="attachment wp-att-1718363"><img class="size-full wp-image-1718363" src="http://www.bcdemocrat.com/wp-content/files/sites/3/2021/05/edf210a896c3aaef11a518a491c7b1f6-2.jpg" alt="stonehead pizza logo" width="1200" height="555" /></a>
"It’s just a good thing, we play off of each other’s strengths," she said.
"And we communicate well," Marshall said.
Becraft will be a more investor and partner, while Marshall will handle the day-to-day, she said.
Marshall’s family has been in Brown County since 1983, then he moved to Indianapolis to find work. He’s worked in the food industry since he was 14 years old, aside from a brief stint in car sales. He was in the United States Navy in food service, has run pizzerias in Chicago, and worked for the bar Shallows in Indy. He moved to Brown County in 2005.
They’ve done a complete rebuild of the kitchen, he said. The original layout remains, but they’ve repaired water damage, flooring and other structural issues.
In addition to redoing the space, the menu has undergone some changes as well. Becraft said they’re well-known for tenderloins, burgers and overall food quality, receiving "stellar reviews" from magazines as well as high marks from the Brown County Health Department.
Tenderloins and burgers will stay, she said, but they’re adding items like a sausage-pepper-and-onion sandwich, and a meatball sandwich on a crispy baguette topped with red sauce. Their beer and wine list will also become a new staple, they said, with more than 70 beers to start and 30 wine selections. They’ll also have ciders, seltzers and more.
Their food quality comes from their focus on farm to table: fresh, not frozen products. Tenderloins are cut and pounded daily, burgers are never frozen, dough is made from scratch, sauces are made in-house and cheeses are custom blended.
"I’m excited," Becraft said. "We’re going to do very well."
Becraft believes there has been some misconception that Trails End had been a biker or horseman’s bar, being in close proximity to the Brown County State Park Horseman’s Camp.
"We don’t care if you’re a tourist, a local, a horse person, a bicyclist, a biker," she said. "We’re going to feed all of you."
"We want to feed everyone that eats," Marshall said.
They’re looking to do a soft opening in the later part of May and a grand opening on Memorial Day weekend. In the meantime, they’re putting finishing touches on the restaurant as well as hiring kitchen and wait staff.
Stonhead Pizza Co. at Trails End will be working with two charities on a regular basis: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Southern Brown Volunteer Fire Department.
"You get asked for a lot of donations when you’re in business, but we decided up front that we’d choose things that are near and dear to us," Becraft said. "We want to be involved in the community and do the right things."
Looking to the future, Marshall said that they’d like to get to the point where they’re able to grow significantly.
"We have big dreams, it’s just getting to them and bringing them to fruition," Becraft said. "Neither one of us see this as the end; it’s a beginning."
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Location: 4646 State Road 135 South
Facebook: <a href="http://facebook.com/TrailsEndPanHeadSaloon">facebook.com/TrailsEndPanHeadSaloon</a>
Phone: 812-929-3417
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