Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage in Harvard Square is for sale
"I’ve been doing this for about 45 years," owner Bill Bartley said. "I don’t want to be tired and unhappy with it when I’m 70."
For Bill Bartley, owner of Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage, putting the legendary burger spot up for sale wasn’t a reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. It was just time.
“The restaurant is the same age as I am,” Bartley told Boston.com on Wednesday. “Sixty years old. I’ve been doing this for about 45 years. I don’t want to be tired and unhappy with it when I’m 70.”
The restaurant, which was opened in 1960 by Bartley’s parents, Joseph and Joan Bartley, is currently listed for $475,000 on the Boston Restaurant Group site. Bartley said the goal is to find a buyer who wants to keep the iconic concept intact, with the potential for renovation. First, though, the buyer will have to pass “the sniff test,” Bartley said.
“My kids can’t pass it,” Bartley laughed. “That’ll give you an idea of how difficult that sniff test is. You have to have passion. If you’re coming in and you want it to be Mr. Bartley’s, that’s number one. Having been a customer and really understanding it, that’s number two.”
Known for its gargantuan burgers named after celebrities, athletes, and politicians (and, during the pandemic, items in the zeitgeist like “Greedy Landlords”), the burger joint has offered takeout and delivery during the pandemic, though Bartley said he is gearing up to reopen the restaurant in early September, whether or not a buyer has been found. Whatever happens, Bartley just wants to go out on a high note.
“I don’t want a retirement party,” he said. “I think that the fact that I’m 60 years old and I can retire is a great tribute to my dad, the concept that he had, the business sensibility that he instilled in us. It doesn’t really happen in this business. Unfortunately, people don’t really leave on a high note. And if I leave Mr. Bartley’s on a high note, even during all of this, it just puts an exclamation point on the work my family has done and the dedication of the staff.”
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