Popular Occoquan eateries expanding to Montclair

The owner of one Occoquan’ s most successful restaurant groups is expanding by taking two concepts and placing them under one roof.

A combination “Third Base Pizza and Frozen Custard” and “The Grind N Crepe”, which serves coffee and crepes, will open in September on Kevin Walker Drive in Montclair, next to Georgios. The new restaurant will fill take-out orders only, a service that has increased in popularity during the pandemic.

“It’s what we’ve been getting so good at,” said owner Kathy Anderson.

The concepts are both tried and tested, as the original Third Base opened on Commerce Street in Occoquan in 2017. Grind N’ Crepe later, opened across the street. The popular Bar J restaurant in Occoquan rounds out the eatery concepts owned by Anderson.

The new combination take-out restaurant in Montclair will allow Anderson to serve customers breakfast, lunch, and dinner, she said. Once it opens, Grind N Crepe will begin serving customers at 7 a.m., and Third Base at 11 a.m. Coffee will be available until 5 o’clock, and pizza and custard until 10 p.m.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Anderson’s restaurants have been packing more of its food to go and placing lids on every cup. In fact, the pandemic has been a boom for Third Base’s paper goods suppliers, as the restaurant has been using a month’s worth boxes, straws, lids, and other materials, in a week.

It didn’t pass the cost of the increased amount of paper goods onto its customers.

“That’s just the cost of doing business,” said Bruce Hicks, who manages the restaurants.

A total of 10 poeple will be hired to work at the new Montclair location. Applications are already coming in, said Anderson.

The new restaurant comes as a time when take-out food is becoming more popular. Online food delivery sales have more than doubled in the previous year, boosting sales for Uber Eats and Grubhub.