BusinessWest & Healthcare News: Business & Health Talk Podcast · Audacy

Joe talks to Bill Collins, owner of Center Square Grill restaurant

March 14, 2024·24 min·1 clip

Collins says scallops doubled, garlic doubled, and lobster meat jumped from $28 to $48 a pound.

1. Business West’s Business Talk podcast centers on Joe Bednar’s conversation with Bill Collins about Center Square Grill in East Longmeadow. 2. Joe Bednar is the editor of Business West, and Bill Collins is the owner of Center Square Grill, which he says has been open 10 years. 3. The episode asks how Collins built and kept a busy restaurant profitable through menu choices, bar growth, catering, and labor shocks. 4. Collins traces his restaurant path from his family’s establishments on Long Island to corporate restaurants in Massachusetts. 5. He says working with Claudio Guerra in Western Mass made him realize the industry was his long-term career. 6. Collins describes opening Center Square Grill in 2014 with a “creative American” concept instead of another Italian or Chinese restaurant. 7. He says East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, and Wilbraham gave him a nearby customer base without “perfect access to the highway.” 8. Collins explains that the bar started as a nine-seat setup and later became a major daytime business. 9. He credits Heather Han with building that bar crowd through small touches like truffle-salt popcorn and chocolate-covered strawberries. 10. Collins says the daytime bar stays busy from 11:30 in the morning into the 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. hours. 11. Collins says catering became a major revenue stream because it avoids rent, utilities, and insurance. 12. He says Center Square Grill does grab-and-go catering, off-site catering, weddings, and events at Monticello in Somers, Connecticut. 13. Collins says the restaurant beat its opening projections and kept growing after opening. 14. He also mentions a sprinkler leak that closed the restaurant for six weeks and created a large insurance claim. 15. Collins recalls the pandemic shutdown as an emotional moment when indoor dining stopped and his income disappeared. 16. He says the restaurant used Facebook Live, bar dividers, to-go orders, and a gift-card promotion called “strength and numbers” to stay active. 17. Collins says restaurant owners formed a strong network during COVID, including calls with Ralph Santanello, Peter Ross Scott, Mick from Delaney, Andrew Brow from Jackalope and Highbrow, and Claudio. 18. He describes working with Frank Fitzgerald and Governor Baker’s office to pause liquor-store posting so restaurants would not lose deliveries while serving liquor was banned. 19. The conversation sounds practical, candid, and manager-to-manager, with Collins moving from personal stories to cost calculations and staffing tactics. 20. People interested in restaurant operations, labor costs, and local business resilience would likely follow this closely; listeners wanting light entertainment and no industry detail might skip it.

As heard by us

A grounded restaurant story about shutdowns, recovery, and staying visible.

Bill Collins's route to Center Square Grill gives the conversation its spine, but Joe Bednar keeps the focus on how a local restaurant gets through bad years and the slower work of coming back.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You get a calm, practical restaurant story about shutdowns, recovery, and what comes next at Center Square Grill.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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