The Ram’s rooftop bar opens in Perkasie
Bucks County tourism officials see Perkasie as new destination spot
The newest place to get a drink in Perkasie is also the highest.
A ribbon cutting was held Aug. 5 for The Ram’s new rooftop bar on top of a three-story building overlooking the town center.
The restaurant, which Community and Economic Development Director Steve Barth said was six years in the making, opened for take-out in late 2020, then moved earlier this year to being open for inside seating as the COVID-related guidelines changed to allow that.
“This truly is an anchor and catalyst for our downtown. It will have a transformative effect,” Barth said. “They’ve already created 60 new jobs in the community and 90 percent of those are within our zip code here.”
Contractors and suppliers used by the business are also local, he said.
Joe Wade, The Ram’s owner, said the latest numbers put the employee count at close to 70.
He lives in and loves the community, he said.
Wade also owns the Jamison Pour House in Warwick and the Station Tap House in Doylestown.
“I’m in a lot of communities. This is by far the best one and most business-friendly community that’s out there,” he said of Perkasie.
Other businesses are also looking to move to Perkasie, he said.
“There’s no doubt there is a total movement happening in Perkasie. The hospitality development is just amazing and it helps us tell a new story when we’re marketing and promoting Bucks County,” said Paul Bencivengo, president and CEO of Visit Bucks County, the county’s official tourist agency.
Eight million people visit Bucks County each year generating a billion dollars of economic impact, he said. Thirty thousand people work in the hospitality industry in the county, he said.
Perkasie is becoming known as more of a destination place, mentioned along with towns such as Doylestown, New Hope and Yardley, Bencivengo said.
The Ram’s menu is classic American fare, with some different twists, Wade said.
For instance, Chef Jason Smith, a 2000 Pennridge High School graduate, likes making smoked meats, Wade said.
“Everything in the place is made on site except for the French fries and the bread we bring in from Conshohocken,” he said.
“The building that houses The Ram was built nearly 90 years ago as a general store and was designed by Bucks County architect Milton Bean,” according to information provided by Perkasie Towne Improvement Association.
“Most recently, it had been a subsidized apartment building. Today, repurposed and revitalized, it is a highly stylized, threestory dining and event space hosting a rooftop bar with tenmile views,” the information says.
The $4 million restaurant has increased property taxes on the building by five times, generates about $5,000 per year in new earned income taxes and increased the local services tax paid by people working in the town by about $3,120, the information says.
The borough has made changes to its zoning rules in recent years to encourage more revitalization efforts, Barth said.
That was done by “visioning what we wanted and then working backwards to create the mechanisms, the codes and zoning to achieve them,” he said.
“Our goal is to be business friendly,” Perkasie Borough Council Economic Development Committee Chair Aaron Clark said. “We want to be cooperative, want to kind of grease the track and make it easy to do uneasy things.”
Information about The Ram is available at ramperkasie.com or theperkasieram on Facebook. The Ram has opened its new rooftop bar.