A trailblazer in St. Louis’ vegetarian scene will soon serve its last guests. Small Batch Whiskey & Fare (3001 Locust), the Midtown whiskey and plant-based restaurant from Baileys’ Restaurants, recently announced on Instagram that it will be closing its doors for good. Small Batch’s last day of service will be Monday, May 12.
Kara Bailey, who co-owns Small Batch with her husband, Dave, explains that the pair has been considering closing the restaurant for some time and notes that the business never fully recovered after the pandemic. “This is something we’ve been considering for a little while because, at the end of the day, the volume of business never returned after [the pandemic] to where we needed it to be,” Kara says. “We made adjustments and pivots over the years, and it just came down to volume, which wasn’t there.”
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The Backstory
When the Baileys opened Small Batch, in 2013, it was one of St. Louis’ few strictly vegetarian restaurants—let alone upscale vegetarian concepts. That alone made Small Batch groundbreaking, but the Bailey’s upped the ante, pairing plant-based fare with an impressive whiskey selection, which Kara admits raised some eyebrows.
“It was a concept that both Dave and I wanted to explore,” says Kara. “At the time, there weren’t that many other vegetarian and vegan restaurants within the city limits; having something that was slightly more elevated and composed, but also approachable and fun, was important to us. When we paired it with whiskey, people were like, ‘What?’ but we thought it worked, and it did for years.”
Located on Locust Street’s former “Automotive Row,” the space boasts floor-to-ceiling windows and an added mezzanine with iron railings painted as glossy black as the Model T’s sold there a hundred years ago.
The Future
Kara says closing Small Batch will allow Baileys’ Restaurants to focus on the restaurant group’s other concepts, which include three locations of popular breakfast-and-lunch spot Rooster, as well as Baileys’ Range, Baileys’ Chocolate Bar, Bridge Tap House & Wine Bar, and The Fifth Wheel, a catering operation that operates out of Willow and Slate event spaces downtown. Kara says Small Batch’s employees have been offered positions at the other restaurants.
Reflecting on Small Batch’s impact, Kara says she’s grateful for all of the support from the St. Louis vegan and vegetarian community. She’s also proud that the restaurant provided a space for the employees to grow, thrive, and make an impact.
“It’s been a space not just for the customers but also for the staff, because it has provided them a place to be creative and grow,” says Kara. “So many have reached out and said they are going to come back one last time to say goodbye. It really meant a lot to them. It meant a lot to all of us.”
