Starbuck’s in Hyannis at night. Courtesy of Marty Bloom.
STARBUCK’S
The place is always cooking.
Address: 645 Route 132, Hyannis
Years Active: 1986–2006
Long before a certain Seattle-based coffee giant landed on Cape Cod, Starbuck’s was already a household name on the peninsula. Along the busy Route 132 in Hyannis, for two decades a restaurant was creating great food and great memories in a highly unique atmosphere.
In 1986, with two successful restaurants under his belt, Marty Bloom took a chance on opening a new venture. He had already run Fred’s Turkey House in West Yarmouth along with his father, Fred, for a few years while still in college in the late 1970s. Bloom then moved on to open his eponymous restaurant, Bloom’s Prime Rib House, in West Yarmouth in 1981. His idea for his newest project came from something very familiar.
TGI Friday’s, a popular casual American dining restaurant chain that first opened in 1965, became the inspiration for Bloom’s new restaurant. He would call it Starbuck’s, playing off of the Starbuck family, a prominent whaling family on the island of Nantucket from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. There is also a connection to the iconic book Moby Dick, written by Herman Melville, as Captain Ahab’s first mate is also named Starbuck. Bloom then chose Route 132 in Hyannis as the location for his new establishment due to the fact that it was one area on Cape Cod that was busy year-round.
In 1984, Bloom applied for a liquor license for Starbuck’s. It was a fight to get one, as they were not that readily handed out at that time; many more such licenses would become available in the following years.
Next up, Bloom wanted to create a new and distinctive design for his establishment. Items like a large round center bar, neon signs to spice up the atmosphere, oversized wicker chairs and his “bleachwood” (a mixture of paint and stain) helped to form the wildly charming interior of Starbuck’s. The design of the restaurant entered and finished second place in the 1986 National Design Competition put on by Restaurant Design magazine.
Bloom was a hands-on restaurateur, as he wrote all of the radio ads for the establishment and the creative and somewhat comical menu. It featured items like the Chief Justice Warren Burger Burger; the Larry Bird burger, which was a triple double of mushrooms, Canadian bacon and swiss cheese; the Mexican section, which was called “Ever Since You Met My Sister Molly You’ve Been Cold to Me and Hot to Molly”; and the soup du jour, “We don’t know what it is but we have it every day.” All of this made a meal at Starbuck’s more than just sitting, eating and leaving.
“I really went for broke with it,” Bloom said of the detail and dedication he put in to the entire setup of Starbuck’s. Success did not come right away, though. Though the business was okay in the first year, it was driven more by summer sales and liquor, which made up more the 60 percent of the earnings. Heading into the second year in business, Bloom revamped the menu and created a “cool and casual upscale location.” This brought the food sales up, and business took off from there.
By the time Starbuck’s was in its third year, it was doing sales of $3.5 to $4 million, amazing numbers for the late 1980s. With Bloom’s Prime Rib House still going strong in West Yarmouth, Marty attempted another new venture, called Stromboli’s, in 1987. It replaced a Denny’s right near the Airport Rotary. It was one of a few unsuccessful attempts at opening a restaurant. Bloom still managed to turn it into a success by rebranding it Champions Sports Bar. This was popular with customers, but not with the town, so it was closed and became a Pizzeria Uno.
After selling Bloom’s in 1992 and venturing off-Cape to create his successful chain of Vinny Testa’s Italian restaurants in 1993, it became increasingly difficult for Marty to put his energy into Starbuck’s. His mother and sister helped keep it going through the 1990s. He tried to reinvent the location as Star City Grill as the twenty-first century began, but the change proved to be a mistake. The ever-popular Starbuck’s closed in 2006, leaving a twenty-year legacy of fun in the mid-Cape area.
Bloom says that one of the lasting memories for him of Starbuck’s is just how many people met their significant others there during its time in business. A Circuit City megastore was meant to open in the location in 2009, but the company went bankrupt. As of 2016, a Harbor Freight Tools sits on the spot where Starbuck’s once stood.