Abe Erb’s Waterloo location is for sale
The Waterloo location of the Abe Erb restaurant chain is up for sale, listed as a “brew pub for rebranding.”
The listing for the business at 15 King St. S. appeared recently on the website for Carve Real Estate, a commercial division of Torontobased Royal LePage Signature Realty Inc. that specializes in restaurants.
The listing describes it as a “very successful and fully licensed brew pub restaurant with on-site brewing, retail, impressive sales.”
The business is listed for $499,000, and is further advertised as a 2,800-square-foot space “with a great layout that can be rebranded into another concept, cuisine or franchise.”
There are no similar listings for the Abe Erb locations at the Tannery on Charles Street West in Kitchener or on Northumberland Street in Ayr.
Broker Ryan Earl of Carve Real Estate said he couldn’t comment on the Abe Erb listing. Messages left for Abe Erb ownership have not been returned.
The move to sell the Waterloo location comes less than two years after the revived restaurant group reopened the three current locations in 2021 after an abrupt closure the previous year.
At that time, the chain was more than $1 million in debt.
It was also in the midst of a legal battle with the landlord of Abe Erb’s former Guelph location, who accused the business and its directors of theft, fraud, not paying the rent and breaching the lease agreement.
An affiliated company, Settlement Coffee Roasters, and its four locations were also closed.
In 2021, developer Brian Prudham — an original Abe Erb investor — said he was reviving the Abe Erb name with a new company and ownership team.
The Waterloo, Kitchener and Ayr locations reopened that year.
“I like the brand,” Prudham said in a 2021 interview.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”