Desserts at Bear Rock Café, like the chips, breads, soups and coffees, are prepared to strict specifications and then distributed among the chain's 30-some locations.

BEAR ROCK CAFÉ Location: Colony Place, 7725 Colony Place Road Phone: 704-716-BEAR (2327) Fax: 704-295-0722 Location: Cochran Commons, 2706 West Mallard Creek Church Road Phone: 704-549-9887 Fax: 704-549-9799 Location: Cotswold Mall, 306 Sharon Amity Road Phone: 704-442-1887 Fax: 704-442-1892 Hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Price range: From $3.29 to $6.39. Details: Dine-in or takeout, children’s menu, catering, gift certificates For more information: www.bearrockfoods.com

Bear Rock Café restaurant chain is taking Charlotte by storm. The menu features sandwiches, soups, salads and such. A place for quick and casual dining, Bear Rock offers far better fare than fast-food salads and sandwiches; and yet the place doesn’t pretend to be anything more than it is.

“We know we’re not a destination dining spot,” joked company CEO and founder Gary Bryant. “It’s not like people are trying to decide if dinner tonight is a choice between Bear Rock and (steakhouses like) Ruth’s Chris,” he continued with a smile.

Bryant does promise Bear Rock to be dependable, consistent, family friendly and very customer-oriented. “We want our customers to have a commitment to our brand – to know that our cafés are always clean and comfortable, offer good food and … a great place to meet with friends. My goal has always been to have a restaurant that offers a nice environment, high-quality product and good value to the guest.”

To ensure consistent quality throughout the Cary, N.C.-based chain, Bryant, who sees the quick and casual dining trend to be on the upswing across the country, relies on a menu-consulting firm from California to plan a spread of chef-created fare designed specifically for Bear Rock. New menu items are developed and test-marketed on a quarterly basis. All products in the restaurant, from chips to soups, breads, cookies and coffees, are prepared to Bryant’s specifications by selected manufacturers and then distributed from Bear Rock’s Nashville warehouse directly to the franchises.

Once the ingredients are in the café’s kitchens, the preparation of most items is practically foolproof. Soups arrive already prepared and simply need to be reheated, while the prepared dough for sandwich breads and cookies arrives ready to be baked and served.

Sandwiches and then some
Sandwiches are certainly the mainstay of the Bear Rock menu. There are a host of chicken and turkey sandwiches and an equal number of sandwiches featuring a variety of standard lunch meats served on choices of rolls, ciabatta bread, tortilla wraps, croissants and flatbreads. Bear Rock also offers a selection of several freshly baked sandwich breads. The best among them for cold sandwiches is the nutty-sweet sunflower seed bread.

If you can’t find a Bear Rock sandwich combo to suit your palate, simply create your own: select the desired bread, meat, cheese, topping and dressing or spread. All sandwiches are accompanied by chips – rippled, baked or barbecued – or pretzels. If you prefer, a side salad or baked potato can be substituted for chips. If you would like a pickle as part of the package, just ask.

Sandwiches at Bear Rock are differentiated by choices of cheese, seasonings, spices and spreads. Many of the sandwiches are served hot off the grill. Favorites of mine are the Reuben’s Peak – corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss and spicy mustard on seeded rye – and the Sasquash, one of two veggie sandwiches on the menu. The Sasquash consists of grilled eggplant, yellow squash, provolone, red onion, mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes and sprouts lightly seasoned with Vidalia onion dressing. While the flavors were fine, I found the end result too greasy, as were other sandwiches grilled hot to order at Bear Rock. Better, I think, to order the sandwich of choice grilled without any oil, butter or spread on the outside of the bread. Another option might be to try the same combo of meats or veggies and cheese on grilled flatbread instead, or just enjoy your sandwich cold.

Aside from sandwiches, the menu offers large baked potatoes all day long, a daily selection of excellent soups, a half dozen or so salads and a nicely appointed kids’ menu.

The soups are thick, never frozen, and as close to homemade as you can get. Both the tortilla soup and the baked potato mountain chowder are quite nice. If you’d like to make your bowl of soup a heartier meal, order it served in a sourdough bowl with a green or Caesar salad on the side.

The salad selection consists of the standard medley of greens, flavors and toppings – good, but nothing special enough to stand out. Much more impressive, believe it or not, is the kids’ menu. Mainstays include grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly, a tasty macaroni and cheese (as good as America’s favorite stuff in the blue box) or half of a create-your-own sandwich. The $3.49 package comes complete with in-season fresh fruit, a choice of chips or pretzels, a kid-size fountain drink or juice and, of course, the obligatory cool toy.

It’s all about the atmosphere
While the menu may initially draw customers to Bear Rock, the atmosphere will seal the deal. Currently the 8-year-old franchise has two restaurant designs. The original layout is based on a mountain cabin theme, known within the company as the Yukon motif. Bear Rock locations at Colony Place in South Charlotte, at Cochran Commons in North Charlotte, and at Concord Mall outside the Queen City’s borders are great examples of the original restaurant concept.

Charlotte’s newest Bear Rock Café at Cotswold Mall is an example of the company’s brand-new prototype, the mountain café design. The Cotswold restaurant is the company’s first execution of this design.

“The whole restaurant has a more contemporary feel, with what we think is a better design. The lighting is better and colors are softer than before. It’s a fresher look with lots of natural elements, and the layout is not as rustic as our earlier concept,” Bryant explained. “We’ve also introduced real flatware and china with the new prototype – much nicer, we think, than eating off of plastic and paper.”

This customer, for one, would agree. The service at Bear Rock is predominantly do-it-yourself. Customers order at the counter and then help themselves to cold drinks, flatware, condiments and more. Friendly employees bring your meal to you when it’s ready. At some of the older Bear Rock Cafés, customers get a number when they order and listen for it to be called before picking up their meal at the counter. Despite the look of a mountain cabin, the fireplace and the rustic features, the newest Bear Rock location and some of the established locations are outfitted with the latest in modern technology. Dining rooms feature “wi-fi” – that is, they are equipped with wireless Internet connections. There’s nothing to plug in, nothing to pay for; just come in with your laptop and surf the ’Net to your heart’s content while you enjoy breakfast in the mornings and lunch, dinner or a cup of coffee and dessert any time of the day.

Smarter than your average bear
While the Bear Rock Café is a relatively new concept, Bryant is no stranger to the restaurant business. A graduate from N.C. State, this entrepreneur started in the financial arena but at age 25 decided to shift gears and take over a Hickory Hams franchise in Raleigh. He turned the restaurant around and, after six or seven years, found himself with six locations all in the state’s capital city. As part of his franchises’ growth spurt, he introduced sandwiches on the menu and earned rave reviews. Despite his success, he was concerned about the longevity of the ham business, so he sold the franchise back to Hickory Hams in 1997 and set out to create a national brand.

“I wish I could tell you that Bear Rock was some wonderful place from my childhood, a place my family and I used to vacation – cozy cabin, fireplace and all. But truth of the matter is the concept came from an advertising company,” admitted Bryant. “We had six or seven working concepts for a restaurant chain, and the Bear Rock Café is the one the focus groups like the best.”

The first Bear Rock Café opened in Raleigh in 1997; in 2001 Bryant started to franchise the operation. Currently, two of the Charlotte locations are owned by individual franchisers, and the Cotswold prototype is a company store owned and operated by Bear Rock Franchise Systems, Inc. With 34 other Bear Rock Cafés already in operation, Bryant has commitments now on the table for 150 additional restaurants in 20 states. Fifteen to 20 new Bear Rock Cafés will open this year.

Flatbread sandwiches are the newest thing since sliced bread on the Bear Rock menu.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Edidin writes "The Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@thecharlotteweekly.com.

CW photos by Melissa Cherry.

This article first appeared in "The Charlotte Weekly" on Marcj 3, 2005. "The Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in North and South Charlotte and Uptown.

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