From EBC to Tiki: Fredonia staple changes ownership

LEE PYE

Staff Writer 

That’s right, the Ellicottville Brewing Company (EBC West) restaurant in downtown Fredonia has been sold. 

Replacing it is a multi-themed bar called Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar. 

EBC’s restaurant has been running with the current owner for about 12 years, and throughout the years has had fine dining, crafted beer. Now, the restaurant serves mainly pub food, beer and cocktails. 

EBC is known to be the hotspot for graduation weekend and alumni weekend, and through ‘EBC lore,’ has been the busiest weekend of the year for the restaurant. 

Two staff members of EBC were interviewed and wish to remain anonymous.

The owners for the new restaurant Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar are Robert Turley Jr., Amanda Shepp and Christopher Shepp. 

According to the website, Turley is the chief operating officer (COO) and head brewer, with experience in brewing. He wants to bring his own creations to the Fredonia bar scene. 

Amanda ‘Mandi’ Shepp is the chief executive officer (CEO) and head of design, and is known around campus from being the coordinator of Special Collections & Archives in Reed Library at SUNY Fredonia. 

Chris Shepp, the chief financial officer (CFO) and general manager, graduated two years ago from SUNY Fredonia with a B.S. in Public Accountancy & Business Administration. 

Their plan for the Tiki Bar is to serve higher end small-plates with about eight rotating food options, and to focus on the bar and atmosphere. 

If you couldn’t tell by the name, the Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar will have a very heavy focus on all things Tiki, while mixing the horror element of classic monsters hanging out at a beach, sipping on Tiki drinks. 

The audience demographic is 21+. They are expecting to gain traction from college students, Fredonia regulars and anyone else interested in the horror-filled Tiki. However, if you are looking for the average Irish pub experience, this might not be the bar for you. 

The original idea began when the Shepps wanted to open a Tiki bar and brewery as a retirement plan years in the future, but their friend Turley came to them and introduced the idea of opening a brewery. “When someone with the expertise comes to you and asks, ‘Do you want to do this?’ you just have to say yes!” 

With all of the ideas for this bar, the initial idea had to come from somewhere. Chris Shepp said, “I’m a big horror guy, I’m an old punk and old goth, I grew up in goth clubs and underground nightclubs, and grew up looking up to the cool club owners. I always wanted to be ‘the guy with the cool bar.’ Mandi is the one who got us into the Tiki idea.” 

Some of the decorations will consist of covering up all of the EBC brickwork with weaved wall coverings that will give a natural Tiki vibe. The lighting will be a lot darker, with no visible clocks to give a feel of stepping out of the normal world.

They have many plans for the future of the bar. Once things get rolling, they plan to have events with live music, karaoke, art exhibitions and theme nights. 

They will also have a monthly LGBTQ+ club night called “Getting Freaky at the Tiki.” Chris stated that there are a lot of LGBTQ+ people in Fredonia, yet there are no gay bars, so this new bar will be a welcoming place. 

On Sept. 28, Monster Beach posted on their Facebook page that they will be taking the location of a place in Fredonia, and on Oct. 14, they announced that the location was EBC West and that there will be a launch party held on Oct. 25 at the location. However, the staff of EBC were not told the restaurant was going out of business until after the posts went out. 

“My professor told me in class. I mentioned I worked there, and he said, ‘Oh, didn’t that get bought out?’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ … About 20 minutes later, I got confirmation from someone close to the source,” said an EBC staff member. Most of the workers ended up finding out about the Tiki bar from other sources before the restaurant told them.

When the staff were finally told, a few points were made. The transition will be slow, with the old owner moving out and the new owners moving in. EBC will still do business as EBC, but will technically be under the new owners of Monster Beach. Until the end of December, the owners will slowly migrate their new cocktails, beer and food into the EBC menu, keeping the current EBC staff, and then when the J-Term starts, they will close the restaurant, renovate it and open it sometime at the end of winter break. 

The official opening date is not yet confirmed. 

The new owners do not plan on firing any of the EBC staff.

According to EBC management, this process is laid out this way to have a smoother transition. 

For the launch party, perspectives did not line up with the EBC staff and the new owners of the restaurant. Chris Shepp said, “[The event] went fantastic. EBC has been super helpful, the current owner has been offering really good deals and a lot of support and help. We did fantastic. There were a lot of people that came out to support us, and we were blown away by that.”

As for EBC, one of the kitchen staff members said, “I think to them it was a great success. I think to us it was terrible.”

The EBC staff were under the impression that the food and drinks they were promoting were going to be created by the new owners. The head chef was asked to help create the new items, to which she declined. The new owners then gave the EBC staff their own menu, which consisted of an eggroll and a chicken skewer. Chris Shepp helped prepare the new dishes with the head chef.

One EBC staff member is a chef that has worked in New York City and has experience in fine dining for multi-million dollar weddings. He answered how he thought the food tasted: “My coworker put it best, it tasted like 7-Eleven fast food. The two menu items felt uninspired [and] rushed … Asking our head chef to create the menu for them … was personally insulting.” 

However, the same chef said he had tried the new beer that was shown at the launch party, which he praised, saying that he hoped the food would improve to match the beer.

The event sold less than 10 of each of the new foods. 

The EBC staff stated that while the event was happening, the new owners were giving tours of the basement (which is off-limits to the public for safety precautions) and one staff member reported finding a drunk customer in a cooler, which halted the flow of their job. 

Furthermore, multiple staff members reported that during the launch party, the smell of body odor and weed were so terrible that multiple servers had to take breaks in the kitchen. One of the kitchen staff had to step out due to feeling nauseous. The front door was opened for air, but multiple people started smoking directly outside of the restaurant, continuing to make the place smell. 

EBC staff also stated that the new owners did not introduce themselves to most of the staff. If there were interactions, they were quick and impersonal: “It was a show of how unprofessional they truly are. I think they expect loyalty from the EBC staff, and they have not shown us any kind of respect that makes us want to feel loyal to them. We are loyal to the business, not the building.”

Many of the staff reported that they plan on quitting once the ownership officially changes over. 

Unrelated to the launch party, two EBC staff members stated how they think the new restaurant will affect Fredonia. “I think there is an oversaturation of bars in Fredonia. EBC is one of those places that you can get a drink, sure, but you can also get a decent meal, get trivia, hang out with a couple of friends, your family, and you aren’t surrounded by a bunch of college kids. Once I was eating out front after work, and thought, ‘This is the only ‘New York City feel’ location in Fredonia,’ and I can’t believe we’re losing something good like that.

“I think there are too many niche concepts in one small space, in one small town. I think they will have better luck in Buffalo, but I don’t think the college clientele will ditch their cheap, easy bar locations [for] something this niche. I also have a very hard time when it comes to Tiki, and how people choose to represent Tiki culture, especially as a white person who may or may not have the cultural background that they need.”

The only thing that is holding back the new owners from completely taking over the restaurant is waiting for the liquor license to be approved by the state. Once the liquor license is approved, EBC will turn into Monster Beach Brewery & Tiki Bar. 

The current location for EBC West is 34 West Main Street, Fredonia, NY. 

One of the staff members stated that if they were able to say anything to the new owners of Monster Beach Brewery and Tiki Bar, it would be to “Get professional, fast.”