Aces of Trades: Restaurant owner Matt Brady has had long career in the business

LANCASTER — Ale House 1890 and Provisions owner Matt Brady said working at the now-defunct Billy Cricket's was like going to restaurant school.

"That's where I got my start and cut my teeth in the business," he said. "I started off bartending, and from bartending became a manager and then the general manager of the restaurant. I got into the business when it was a year old. So it was very much a fledgling business still getting its feet under it and starting its roots."

Brady worked for Billy Cricket's owner Billy Smith for 13 years.

"I had a long tenure there and was very fortunate to see the business cycles," he said. "I learned a lot about the town and learned a lot about the business itself and a business within a town like Lancaster."

Brady, who was born in Columbus and raised in Salem, Oregon, opened the downtown restaurants Ale House in 2015 and Provisions last year. The latter is the former Four Reasons, which he ran for about a year in that incarnation before transforming it into Provisions.

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Brady said it was a matter of timing to open his own restaurant when he opened Ale House.

"I had been in the business a long time and had developed a qualified skillset that I felt comfortable with on my own," he said. "And I was at a point in life where I was trying to figure out my next chapter. If I was going to stay in the business I was ready to do it for myself."

Brady said owning a restaurant is a lifestyle and not just a job. Instead, it's a 24-hour per day business and he said his phone is always on.

"You have to live it," Brady said. "You have to be fully involved if you're going to be successful. Because you have to ultimately build that foundation. That foundation takes time and it takes mentorship. It takes a willingness to succeed."

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He said it's also imperative to have good people working for him.

"If you have a good staff, if you have good people for a foundation, then ultimately you're going to be strong," Brady said. "That's what I look to both places as to the success of them. The restaurant business is not something you can do on your own. It's not about a singular person, it's about building a team and it's about the strength and success of that team and forging forward with it."

Between both restaurants he has between 70 and 80 employees. Brady spends his time between the restaurants, depending on what is going on with either of them.

He said he's passionate about the restaurant business because of the emotional experience he can create through food for people.

"Taking Ale House, for example, dining at a certain level is so much more experienced driven these days," Brady said. "It's not just fulfilling your bodily food requirement. You're coming out for an experience, you're coming out to relax and catch up with friends or family.

"It's not that quick 15- or 20-minute meal at McDonald's. It's about a lot more than that. So it's creating that atmosphere, creating the experience as a whole for people.

Away from work, Brady enjoys dining out whether traveling throughout the country or throughout the world.

"Part of it's work, part of it's pleasure," he said. "I have to admit it's both. It's seeing what my peers are doing, what my competition's doing. Following their prices, following their protocols. I try to stay on that, especially in major metropolitan areas. It's simply going out to eat and being aware of what other people are doing is a huge indicator. It helps me to make better decisions and have better guidance."

Brady also enjoys hiking, mountaineering and snowboarding.

jbarron@gannett.com

740-304-9296

Twitter: @JeffDBarron

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Restaurant owner Matt Brady has had long career in the business