Rocktown charging at door

Owner says cover created to comply with ABC regulations

By Kaleigh Maher, news editor
Posted on September 10, 2007

People in line at Rocktown Grill on Thursday night were surprised to find that they had to fork over $5 to get in the front door.

According to owner Isaac Coe, Rocktown was not meeting the state Alcoholic Beverage Control regulated ratio for food to beverage sales. In order to balance the ratio, Rocktown will be implementing a $5 minimum food purchase at the door on Thursday nights. Patrons pay the cover charge and are presented with ticket they can redeem ordering off a limited menu at any time. Coe said Rocktown plans to vary the menu from week to week.

“Other than that, we don’t want to change Thursday nights,” he said. “We want people to enjoy themselves.”

Coe also said he thinks this will have to be a permanent change to meet the ABC requirement, and while there has been some negative reaction, overall it has been positive.

“The reaction that I’ve gotten from most people is great,” he said.

Coe looks at the minimum food purchase as a service to patrons, saying that now people won’t have to stop for food on their way home.

“I want people to leave feeling like they got good value for the money they spent on entertainment, on food, on the whole evening,” he said.

Patrons have mixed feelings toward this change.

Senior Mallika Saini said she understood why they had to do it and even though a lot of people were upset about it on Thursday night, she doesn’t think it is that big of a deal.

“As long as it doesn’t go above $5 I’ll probably keep going,” she said.

Senior Amanda Portman said she does not like the change.

“What if I don’t want to eat while I’m there?” she said.

Portman said the change will affect how often she goes to Rocktown.

“I would normally go pretty much every Thursday,” she said. “But now I’m going to have to pick my Rocktown nights.”

Portman said she could have used the $5 for something else.

“That’s like one more drink I could have gotten,” she said.

Coe said he has heard that Thursday nights at Rocktown can be a staple in some JMU students’ college experiences,  and he hopes to keep it that way.

“I want it to be a lot of fun,” he said. “I want it to be extremely safe, I want it to be a good environment.”

Coe also wants to incorporate more music and community events into Rocktown. He said he doesn’t think JMU students are as interested in live music as other college students are and wants to work with the Music Industry Association to generate more of an interest. He hopes Rocktown can be a venue for music majors to perform.

“People can come out and have a nice meal and listen to their friends play music,” Coe said.  

Coe has also been talking to different organizations at JMU about hosting charity events at Rocktown.

“I’d like to involve the students and JMU in a lot of things that benefit them, that benefit us, Rocktown, and that benefit the community,” he said.