Hagel 1891 to close next month; owners of Camp Point’s Jerseys to create second location in its place in Mount Sterling

MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — Jerseys Bar and Grill in Camp Point has been the site of several new manager training sessions called “boot camps” for Dot Foods employees from Mount Sterling.

So when Dot Foods officials reached out about establishing a Jerseys in Mount Sterling, owner James Barnett was ready to listen.

“We’ve had good reviews from those events,” he said. “I feel like we’ve shown that we could do what we needed to do (in Mount Sterling).”

Dot Foods announced Tuesday that it is permanently closing Hagel 1891 at 115 Main Street in Mount Sterling, on Feb. 22. Taking its place will be a second Jerseys Bar and Grill, which will open on March 17.

Barnett, who owns Jerseys with his wife Ashley and Ben Schultz, said he has a couple of staff members who will be elevated into management roles at the Camp Point location. He will take over operations at the Mount Sterling location (when he’s not moonlighting as the boys basketball coach at Central High School in Camp Point).

He calls Jerseys, which opened in May 2021, an “average All-American bar.” It specializes in smash burgers, handmade appetizers and entrees, signature cocktails and a craft beer selection. Barnett said the menu from Camp Point will be continued in Mount Sterling, while planning to keep a few Hagel 1891 favorites.

“We do everything from scratch,” he said. “We have locally sourced meats. We make our appetizers by hand. We make them up, we portion them out and we bag them. We hand bread our chicken before you order it. We cut and tenderize our tenderloins. We smoke our own meats. At the end of the day, it’s American bar food, but it’s done right.”

Hagel 1891, which opened for business on Oct. 28, 2014, was the first foray into the restaurant business for Dot Foods. It offers an upscale American food menu and a bar serving California and local wines, premium liquors and draft and bottled beers. Brothers Joseph and William Hagel constructed the building as a hardware and furniture store in 1891.

A press release from Dot Foods said Hagel employees can join the Jerseys team or apply for another role with Dot Foods. Hagel gift certificates can be redeemed through Feb. 22. Hagel will continue to offer large group events through Feb. 15. Any event scheduled after Feb. 15 will be canceled.

“It has been a wonderful 10 years serving our community at Hagel 1891,” Dick Tracy, CEO of Dot Foods, said in a press release. “We opened Hagel in 2014 after years of community requests for another high-quality restaurant option in Uptown Mt. Sterling.  We remain dedicated to that commitment to the community. That’s why we’ve entered into an agreement with a great local restaurant operator to take over the space.

“I am so grateful to our Hagel team for all their work over the years. They created the type of menu, service and ambiance we set out to achieve. We were unfortunately not able to make that vision for the restaurant profitable. We operated Hagel at a loss since it opened, and that is not sustainable. We’ve been looking for a partner who can successfully run a restaurant while meeting the needs of our community for some time, and we believe we’ve found that in Jerseys.”

Jerseys Bar and Grill will be open Monday through Saturday at the Mount Sterling location, serving lunch Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Evening hours are Monday and Tuesday from 4-9 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from 4-11 p.m. (kitchen closes at 9 p.m.) and Friday and Saturday from 4-midnight (kitchen closes at 9 p.m.).