Photo: Shari Small/WBZ NewsRadio
AYER, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — It is not everyday where the prize in a restaurant giveaway is the restaurant itself.
That is exactly what restauranteur Reza Rahmani is doing with Bar 25 Ayer. Rahmani, who also owns two other establishments including Bar 25's Newburyport location, is holding a contest where the winner gets the Ayer restaurant and everything in it.
"There’s four years left on the lease, I’m giving that away," Rahmani told WBZ NewsRadio Wednesday. "All the business assets that you see, equipment, all the equipment in the kitchen. Whatever is left over for the liquor, they get it. I’m not asking anything of that."
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Rahmani said the goal of this unique contest is to not only find someone to take over the restaurant, but to help keep independent restaurants alive.
"We saw with COVID a lot of mom-and-pop, family-owned restaurants go," Rahmani said. "I want to do my part to see if we can continue breeding new, innovative minds in this business."
Photo: Shari Small/WBZ NewsRadio
According to a social media post, applicants must submit a three-page proposal outlining their business concept, menu, and logo by Friday.
Rahmani said a panel of experts will judge the finalists at an event at the Newburyport location. After that, he hopes to pick the winner by the end of June.
"I’m looking for somebody that has a balance between creativity, but understands business," Rahmani said. "They don’t have to know what they’re doing, obviously, because we’re giving it to somebody that’s never owned a restaurant before, but is open to listening to suggestions."
WBZ's Shari Small reports.
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