[Baltimore Sun] ‘Bring back the salad bar. Don’t change the fried chicken’: Bullock’s in Westminster says sales are growing under new ownership
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Bullock’s Family Restaurant in Westminster is seeing revenue growth this year under new ownership, thanks, in part, to bringing back the popular salad bar.
“We’re up 50% to 60% over last year since we took over,” said new co-owner Matthew Culotta.
Culotta and Julian Jaspert, childhood friends raised in Westminster, bought the local staple from Doug Zepp and Clyde Hirt in May 2023.
Jaspert said he worked with Zepp and Hirt in landscaping for 20 years. One day when he and Culotta, business associates as adults, came into Bullock’s for a meal, Zepp suggested they buy the restaurant from him and Hirt, who acquired it from the Bullock family years ago.
“We kind of looked at each other and were like, you know what, this opportunity is not going to come up again, so we might as well figure it out,” Jaspert said. “And we did.”
When word got out that he and Jaspert were taking over, Culotta said the message from the community was clear: “Bring back the salad bar. Don’t change the fried chicken.”
The popular salad bar shut down during the early days of the pandemic. With the salad bar reopened and foot traffic increasing, the owners also started using a software called Toast to digitize the point of sale and order management process. It had all been done on paper up to then, making tracking difficult.
“I like to be more analytical,” Culotta said. “With the [point of sale system] I have the data to see how much of something we are selling, what we are selling it for and how much it costs.”
Culotta’s background is in restaurants. He managed a Red Lobster for seven years and later trained managers for Darden Restaurants, a publicly traded restaurant operator. He’s also worked at Liberatore’s in Westminster tending bar alongside owner and chef Pino Liberatore.
After a stint in government contracts, the Bullock’s opportunity brought him back to the industry. “I like the restaurant business,” he said.
The new owners began offering a small menu of alcohol in February and have been introducing healthier food items, such as grilled and broiled proteins instead of fried.
“We don’t want to miss out on any opportunities,” Culotta said.
And both stressed the importance of giving back to the local community. Culotta hosted his Westminster High School reunion at the restaurant and Jaspert recalled offering free ice cream for kids to the parents of the Gamber Mustang football program who came in after a practice.
“We have gotten a lot of positive feedback, even from the people that have been coming here for years,” Culotta said. “The whole thing was to try and make changes and upgrades without taking away from what people remember as a kid.”
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