Michael Sandvig was one of the first employees hired at the Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery in The Pruneyard nearly three decades ago. As a bartender, he’s seen the Campbell staple change and grow into a beloved watering hole — some of his favorite memories include firefighters dropped into dunk tanks at fundraisers for the San Jose Fire Fighters Burn Foundation.
Now, he and about 45 other employees no longer have a job after the restaurant’s parent company unexpectedly closed its doors Wednesday.
Sandvig said Kelly Companies, which owns the Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery chain, told the restaurant’s staff about the closure around 8 a.m. the same day it shut the doors. There were warning signs when corporate stopped ordering food and paying vendors a week before. Workers received no advance notice.
Sandvig said corporate’s actions were insensitive and unfair toward so many longtime employees, adding he’s concerned about finding a new gig, especially after he just bought a new car.
“Some of these people I’ve been serving since day one, and I’ve seen their kids grow up,” Sandvig told San José Spotlight. “It’s a horrible feeling for me, just missing a lot of the staff and so many of the guests that I’ve known for decades.”
The closure comes about seven months after Kelly Companies bought the chain from its former owner, SPB Hospitality. Kelly Companies did not respond to requests for comment. Multiple restaurant employees said the company cited a rent increase as the reason for closing.
A spokesperson from Regency Centers, which owns The Pruneyard, told San José Spotlight it did not raise rent, but Kelly Companies requested rent relief with terms attached. The spokesperson said the two companies couldn’t reach an agreement, and Regency Centers asked Kelly Companies to vacate the restaurant.
The decision has left employees like General Manager Margaret Robertson grieving. Robertson started working at the restaurant around 2022 and fondly remembers employee wedding parties and baby showers. She said it was like the show “Cheers,” “where everybody knows your name.”
Robertson said Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery struggled after the pandemic, and Sandvig added it wasn’t easy when the parent company changed the restaurant’s beer selection to brands including Bud Light and Michelob Ultra in place of the varied selection it had before.
Robertson worries about her income as a single mom with four children. She’s also concerned for her team, including employees like Dolly Savaii, who’s worked there 11 years as a server bartender and teared up when talking about the closure.
“My team was dedicated, and they just wanted to stay, to support each other. We all wanted this to be successful,” Robertson told San José Spotlight. “We all had the hope that eventually, one day, it would become successful, and it would turn around and Rock Bottom would be what Rock Bottom was before.”
Robertson and Savaii served longtime regulars, including Dean Jenco.
Jenco started going to the brewery with his friends every Sunday to watch Pittsburgh Steelers games about 20 years ago. It became such a hit, with 20 to 30 fans coming in every week along with his 84-year-old mother, that he started a Facebook group to keep in touch. Jenco had business meetings there and was at the restaurant three times a week until it closed. His favorite thing to order was the Texas fire steak and the Winchester Red beer special to the eatery.
“You felt like you were at home. You felt like you were a family,” Jenco told San José Spotlight. “When you come in, (staff) knew exactly how to treat you. They put you at the same table. You would know about their families because they would tell you, and they’d know about yours.”
The brewery isn’t the only business in The Pruneyard that’s struggled. Last year, Pruneyard Cinemas was hit with a large rent hike, but managed to scrape by.
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery leaves behind a legacy that regulars are hoping the next tenant can fill.
Camille Castillo Leach started going to Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery with her husband when it opened roughly 28 years ago. The couple often brought their daughter with them and played card games. Castillo Leach said she’ll miss the nachos and wants the space to be filled by a local business.
“It was like our local pub,” she told San José Spotlight. “We don’t really have that anywhere else. None of the other places in The Pruneyard really fit that bill.”
Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X.
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