Black Bear Burritos opens new location

Black Bear Burritos, the restaurant many Morgantown residents have come to know and love, has opened a second restaurant near the Evansdale campus. The original restaurant on Pleasant Street has been open for nine years, and co-owners and West Virginia University alumni Jason Coffman and Matt Showalter decided it was time to expand their business.

"Morgantown presents a wonderful opportunity for growth," Coffman said. "As fast as Morgantown is growing, we felt that if we had any intentions to grow our business, we better do so now rather than to try later on. We each have families with children, and we hope that they go to college one day."

According to Coffman, people outside of Morgantown have asked for a Black Bear restaurant in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, but they wanted to keep it in Morgantown. The pair also had several requests for a Black Bear in Evansdale, which appealed to them.

"We often heard folks say they love our restaurant but they don’t go downtown unless they have to. Or they don’t have enough time to get downtown on their lunch hour," Showalter said. "A lot of the draw on this side of town was Mylan, the hospitals and the larger banks with professionals who do often go and get lunch somewhere."

Showalter hopes they can exceed the business they’ve done downtown and, in doing so, gain a lot of new customers who may not be familiar with the restaurant.

"I thought the food at the new location was delicious," said Bethany Andrew, a nursing student at West Virginia University. "I live by the stadium because of my major, and not having to drive downtown for everything is great, especially with gas prices being so high."

WVU student Olivia Kinney agrees another Black Bear restaurant was much-needed.

"It’s a great new location that is still offering the delicious food I’ve come to love from the original place on Pleasant Street," Kinney said. "A second Black Bear was a great idea because they can now accommodate more people in the larger restaurant space."

Kinney suggests guests have the Bear Trap wrap or the Gouda Riddance wrap, which are her personal favorites.

The decor in the new restaurant is similar to the original location. Coffman and Showalter display and sell original artwork to help support local artists. Guests will also notice unique features such as the bicycle tire lights or the use of children’s toys as table markers for delivering food.

"Obviously, Black Bear is not like every other restaurant in the menu that we offer, the clientele that frequents us; we’re just a little different than a lot of other places, and we try to reflect that in the decor," Showalter said.

Black Bear is also well known for their wide selection of beer. Right now in the new location they have 20 beers on tap, five of which are West Virginia brewed, along with West Virginia-brewed moonshine. According to Coffman, the bar area will be further expanding in the future.

Aside from expanding the bar area, they will be expanding their live music selection, as well.

"We have a few acts lined up, but we’re just getting our feet wet in that department, as well," said Coffman. "Again, baby steps. We will eventually have live music booked as regularly as we do downtown and the majority of that being dinner music, of course."

The Evansdale location is still hiring, Coffman and Showalter said. They’re hiring kitchen staff, cooks, dishwashers and kitchen managers both day and night shifts. Current employees already love working at the new location.

"I love the atmosphere and the people that I work with," said employee Sarah Chick. "Everything is just great."

Black Bear Evansdale is located at 3119 University Ave. in the same building as Everyday’s A Party and the Suncrest Pharmacy. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Contact them at (304) 777-4867 or visit www.blackbearburritos.com.

"As we’ve said for nine years and we will continue to say, Black Bear is only as good as our employees represent us, our managers represent us, and our customers receive us," Coffman said. "We feel very grateful to have employed great staff that has invested interest in Black Bear, and we certainly appreciate the customers’ response and business that they bring us as frequently as they do."