CARPOOL HERNDON
CARPOOL HERNDON
“We called it CarPool Reston in hopes that would drive a crowd, but it was Herndon. Yup, it was Herndon ”
I have no idea why we signed a lease in Herndon, Virginia. All of our successes had been in densely populated DC and Arlington, VA areas that had plenty of room for us to grow further. Yet, somehow we found this location at 208 Elden St. and thought it could work. In fairness, it has worked just fine, but it is a destination bar and required us to build the entire crowd; no one just walked by and dropped in. Another tell should have been the demise of Red, Hot & Blue BBQ who had folded and sub-leased to a new brewpub, Chamdo.
We had visited Chamdo, the brain-child of legendary bar creator Bill Stewart whose Bardo Rodeo in Clarendon had been packing in customers for years. Stewart and his brother brewed their own beer and “refused to sell piss” like Miller Lite. We, on the other hand, sold a ton of '“piss.” I give Bill huge credit for sticking to his guns, but the suburban crowd wasn’t buying it.
CarPool-Herndon is still going strong thanks to a dedicated staff, Rama the ace manager, and a focused owner Curt Large, who bought my shares in 2015. I remain a big fan of what he and his team continue to do there.
Curt reminded me that our CarPool Herndon opening party had been scheduled for 9/11/2001. Curt remembers our concern that we were cancelling and some of the invitees might show up. Our partner Mar Handwerger wisely said, “They won’t.”
