Pittman’s Pub won’t open at Eaglecrest Ski Area this season due to work in its designated lodge space that wasn’t performed as promised and a too-short season to operate the pub’s tent, the co-owners of the business told resort’s board of directors on Thursday.
The owner said they also are considering giving up the business altogether, but are willing to consider future options — especially if it involves taking over the Eaglecrest Grill in the Fish Creek Lodge at the ski area’s base. Another key consideration is if officials will let the pub operate during the summer.
“If we can open in the future, if we can open summertime, we’d like to stick around,” Kaity Morgan, co-owner with her husband Evan of Pittman’s Pub, told board members during their meeting Thursday. “I think given all of the people that have reached out to us asking if we’re going to open this year I think people would like to see us open. So we’d like to figure things out, but at this point I feel like we need answers soon to make a decision as to whether we’re going to keep the relationship with Eaglecrest or if we’re just going to dissolve the business.”
Pittman’s Pub debuted during the 2023-2024 ski season in a large bar tent near the base of the Hooter chairlift. Morgan said Eaglecrest management told her there was space in Fish Creek Lodge that could be used when the 2024-25 season started Dec. 7, but that turned out not to be the case.
“None of the things that were supposed to be fixed for us to be able to operate there were fixed,” she said.
Eaglecrest opened as scheduled on Dec. 7, but with only the Porcupine lift at the bottom of the mountain — and well away from the Hooter lift — operating. Morgan said she and her husband were considering opening the bar tent when the full mountain opened, but since that didn’t occur until last weekend that no longer makes sense.
“We just can’t afford to pay $40,000 in insurance to open for February and March, and then one week in April,” she said.
An incentive to continue the business would be obtaining a year-round alcohol license currently available from the city — a time-sensitive concern since competition for the limited number of licenses currently allowed is fierce — but a requirement of the license is 50% of sales must be food, she said. Taking over the Eaglecrest Grill would satisfy that requirement.
“We think that it would be mutually beneficial for Eaglecrest because it would eliminate overhead at Eaglecrest as far as the food sales area goes and it would allow us to cater events,” Morgan said.
Evan Morgan, in subsequent remarks to the board, said getting a year-round alcohol license is “do or die” because the quoted insurance price for their six-month alcohol license of $40,000 “to run a tent that sells beer and wine” exceeds that of a year-round license. The six-month license also doesn’t allow them to sell food.
“If we were to sell food we would be able to get our insurance down to $15,000 which is huge, absolutely huge,” he said.
Eaglecrest board members expressed support for having management work with the Morgans on a way to keep the pub operating. But having the couple take over the grill raised questions about whether it would result in less revenue for the ski area — a key question since it the resort has major budget shortfall issues — and potential regulatory concerns since Eaglecrest is a city-owned entity.
“I am firmly biased on the side of getting out of the chicken finger business, so I don’t want to be the downer,” Hannah Shively, a board member, said. “But I think also we do have obligations as a city-run enterprise to put out to bid. So I don’t know that we could put in writing ‘you have the grill’ because I think we have obligations.”
In addition to financial difficulties due to operating at a loss for many years and a long list of overdue maintenance to the mountain’s facilities, Eaglecrest also is suffering an ongoing workforce shortage. Evan Morgan said if the pub takes over the restaurant it can offer upgraded catering for events ranging from weddings to an annual film series, which would allow the ski area to raise its rental space rates, plus the resort gets a 10% commission from Pittman’s Pub’s sales.
“That requires no work on your end,” he said. “It’s all work on our end. It’s just passive income at that point for the mountain.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
