Adam Longworth and Lorien Wroten, owners of The Common Man Restaurant in Warren, are closing the book on their chapter as stewards of one of The Valley’s longest running restaurants.
Longworth and Wroten closed the restaurant for the last time this winter and will be moving on to other adventures once they determine what those adventures will be!
And the building that housed the restaurant is transitioning as well. The Warren Development Review Board will hold a hearing on April 16 on a change of use proposal for the property. That application seeks to change the use from a restaurant and residential dwelling to three residential units. The building is owned by Mike and Desiree Trahan, Fayston.
While that application is underway, Wroten and Longworth are exploring other areas where they can continue to work in the restaurant business, in The Valley, in Vermont and in other parts of the country.
“We just finished our seventh winter up there. For a long time, we didn’t feel like it was the right business for us. We did our thing, but I always felt like I was in Michael Ware’s space. We tried to sell it after the fourth year and in three years on the market there was no interest,” Longworth said.
“We got to the point where we just wanted to move on and build something of our own. To be 1,000 percent honest, it felt like the restaurant was never ours. It was a very wonderful stepping stone for us and we built a great relationship with Mike and Des. We didn’t close it because of financial reasons or not having enough support,” he added.
They’re working on their demographic research and trying to balance their professional goals with their lifestyle preferences. Both are athletic and enjoy skiing, skinning, hiking, mountain biking and more.
“We don’t have our next concept worked out. Whatever it is, I want it to be mine from start to finish. We want something that is our own name, decor, concept and logo. The only thing we enjoy is restaurant cooking. We still want to feed people good food; I just don’t know where that is right now,” he said.
Longworth made it a point to note that he and Wroten were not leaving The Common Man from lack of support from the community or Valley visitors.
“We got so much support from the community and tourists who come here and from our business partners,” he noted.
“The Common Man had a wonderful run. We were feeding a lot of people in the winter when we were open Thursday through Saturday. We were feeding close to 600 people in those three days. I’m not Mad River Valley angry or preaching that there’s not enough support or that locals don’t come out. Because that’s not true in our case,” Longworth pointed out.
