Popular SLO County restaurant is closing. What’s next for the spot and the owner?
The Porch Eatery in Santa Margarita, formerly known as The Porch Cafe, is closing after more than 15 years and multiple ownership changes.
In the past few years, the restaurant has changed hands multiple times. The current owner, Randi Pust, took over management for The Porch last March and then bought the restaurant from its previous owners in June.
“I bought it to try and save it,” Pust said.
Byron Smith ran the restaurant for about seven years when it was called The Porch Cafe, the name given to the eatery when Carol Samano bought the business in 2006 when it was an internet cafe known as Solomon’s Porch.
Smith said he sold the restaurant to a new owner in December 2021, but after 10 months the restaurant was floundering.
Pust and her business partner stepped in as managers and then owners, renaming the restaurant to The Porch Eatery in June, Smith said.
Smith continued to own the property throughout the ownership changes but is disappointed it is closing.
“I didn’t want to see it close, see all my hard work go down the drain,” he said. “(Randi) has had her own challenges, and I’ve tried to stay out of it.”
SLO County restaurant struggled under COVID-19 shut-downs and inflation
Pust said rising food costs and supply chain issues made it impossible to run the business without raising prices.
Many longtime customers have been supportive, but others have been critical of Pust’s decision to close the business.
“I want to thank the people who have supported me on this journey, the ones with the kind words, the love, the hugs and the constant giving you all do,” Pust wrote on The Porch’s Facebook page. “It’s a shame to see some people in our community who don’t do that for local business. I don’t think you realize the damage you can do and hope your choice of words in the future will improve.”
Pust said the reality is that between inflation and losing her business partner, keeping The Porch open was no longer a viable option for the single mom of two.
“I couldn’t get a lot of stuff, and if I did get it, I had to spend so much money there’s no way the customers could have afforded it,” she said. “At the end of the day, I started spending my own money, too much of it.”
The Porch’s last day of operation is on Oct. 27. The restaurant will feature live music from John Pemberton from 5 to 7 p.m. and Paul Silva from 7:15 p.m. until close.
“People, sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don’t,” Smith said, who ran the restaurant through the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The restaurant industry is really challenging.”
Although The Porch Eatery is closing, Smith continues to own the property and hopes to find a new tenant to run a restaurant in the space.
“I’m hoping that a new tenant is going to step in,” he said. “Whether or not they call it The Porch, I really don’t know.”
While Smith is looking for a new tenant, Pust is spinning up many new community food ventures throughout Santa Margarita.
SLO County chef, caterer has numerous endeavors planned
In August, Pust purchased the Clementine Cupcake Co. in Santa Margarita from its previous owner.
She plans to reopen the bakery under a new name, Black Pearl Baking Co., but assures longtime customers that many of the cupcake company’s gluten-free and vegan recipes will still be part of the menu. Pust plans to add more breakfast items to the menu, including ham and cheese croissants and more.
Pust is also in the process of opening a new barbecue catering business, Smokehouse Catering Co.
The menu will feature a tri-tip sandwich, salad and wrap, a pulled pork sandwich, a half-smoked game hen, a chicken salad sandwich, hot sausage sandwich, hamburger and hot dogs, among other items.
“I can charge a lot less doing catering in the community,” Pust said, compared to operating a brick-and-mortar restaurant. “I cannot even imagine a family of five going out to eat. As a single mom, it’s expensive.”
One of Pust’s main goals is to bring the Santa Margarita community together around food. She recently got permission from the volunteer-run Santa Margarita Fire Department to host events at a dirt lot the department owns near J’s Country Kitchen off El Camino Real.
On Halloween, Pust and other friends in the catering business will be hosting their first event at the lot. The event will donate 10% of all proceeds raised to the local fire department, she said.
Pust will be slinging pizzas along with her cousin, Austin Block, who owns Bello! Pizza Catering.
Block is a major person in Pust’s life, and she said the cousins like to bounce ideas off of one another and help each other out whenever they need it.
“I know its really sad for people that The Porch is closing,” Pust said. “I am going to take everything I did here and spread it out into the community.”
Smith said anyone who is interested in running The Porch or opening a restaurant in the space is welcome to reach out to him at bryon@theporchcafe.com.
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
