Colton’s packs ’em in

By AMBER DILLEY
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW July 09, 2008 01:17 pm

— Finding a parking spot at Colton’s Steakhouse and Grill in Glasgow may be the only downside to the new restaurant.
“It was completely packed,” said customer William Brady, who was with his family. “We snagged the last spot. We had to wait about half an hour, but it was worth it. The steak was really good.”
Colton’s opened its first restaurant in 1996 in Arkansas. The Glasgow site has broken attendance and sales records in its first few weeks.
Doug Landers, who previously had a Ponderosa Steakhouse franchise at the site, made a multi-store deal with Colton’s owner Bobby Fain to turn the space into a Colton’s.
“We’re having pretty good success with it,” Landers said of the new eatery. “We’ve broken weekly sales records and one-day sales records. I’m pleased with it and the Colton’s people are pleased with it as well.”
Landers said passage of the alcohol ordinance helped him decide to open a Colton’s in Glasgow.
“It would have been a different decision,” Landers said. “The election (for the ordinance) was going on when we were thinking of coming here. We may have come to Glasgow, but it was very much a deciding factor.”
“(Alcohol) is not a large percentage of our sales, but it does allow a person to have a beverage with a meal, which is a deciding factor in keeping them here at Colton’s, instead of choosing another place,” he said.
Brandon Kerney, the city’s alcohol license administrator, said that the full effect of the alcohol ordinance isn’t clear yet, but he’s sure it’s helping the area restaurant business.
“We haven’t really been doing it long enough to give a good estimate on economics for the city,” he said. “I can only speak from the city’s perspective, but it’s definitely going to bring in some (revenue).”
While the Colton’s parking lot is packed, Landers said they simply can’t add more parking.
“There’s just no place to go,” he said. “We’ve got other businesses completely around us and we’re sort of blocked in. We’d love to, but we just have no place else to go.”

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