A Complicated Relationship with the Service Industry

It’s the early afternoon and the new restaurant in College Park, Lime, is deserted but come happy hour from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, manager William Barratt will have to be ready for a crowd.

Barratt has been with Lime for the past six months, but has been in the service industry off and on for the past 20 years for what he would describe as a “complicated relationship.”

He started as a bus boy at 14-years-old but made a switch to accounting in college. After six months doing accounting after he graduated he went back to service saying he is always drawn back to it. He even started his own business, but didn’t like working by himself all day, so when he came back to the service industry he was selective as to where he would work.

He chose Lime because the founder, a 26-year-old, is still on the board of Ruby Tuesdays, the company that bought Lime, and all decisions made about the restaurant have to go through the founder.

“We stay consistent,” Barratt said, and one of the things that is consistent is their happy hour.

Lime’s happy hour has become a popular time to eat at Lime with their $2 taco deal, according to one of their cashiers who preferred not to be named, bringing in many students from the University of Maryland, but that’s nothing compared to their opening weekend when the university was having a home football game.

“The line never ended,” said a cashier who preferred not to be named.

Some of the students from the university make happy hour a regular thing, senior Sophie Crook says she’s made the switch from Chipotle to Lime and goes to happy hour every week – at least once.

Lime is slated to open 200-300 more locations over the next 5 years, the next one opening on 7th and Pennsylvania in Washington, DC, according to Barratt.

With the restaurant still new and growing, Barratt says he still enjoys the business, “You have to be a little screwy to want to do this.”