Food: PyroGrill

Business owners are, in general, optimistic people. It takes a lot of belief to open a new restaurant or expand an existing chain of restaurants, knowing that most such efforts fail within the first year. But you'll beat the odds, since your food is better, your service quicker, your place cleaner...right?

PyroGrill, a small chain of fast-casual restaurants based here in Florida, had high hopes at the beginning of 2008. The owner, Michael Curcio, was clearly dedicated, since the company rebranded itself a couple years ago and was looking to expand. Fast-casual food was really taking off.

Cut to the beginning of 2010. A horrific economy has forced PyroGrill to shutter their Lake Worth location. It was always a longshot; the Lake Worth PyroGrill, while near a major intersection, was exposed to brutal competition from national chains like Outback Steakhouse and Chili's, as well as hometown faves like Chris' Taverna. The food would need to be outstanding in order to draw people in; I suppose things just didn't work out.

I did visit the Lake Worth PyroGrill, not too long before they closed. The restaurant was inviting, well-decorated...and empty. A sample meal told me all I needed to know - in a market that's racing toward $2.99 fast food value meals and eating at home to save money, a smallish $6 burrito wasn't going to set anyone's world afire. The rice & curry mustard combination on my "original" burrito was tasty, but not tasty enough to make me forsake Moe's and Chipotle, both national burrito chains that offer much more sizeable portions.

Still, I have to tip my hat to the Curcio family and the rest of the people at PyroGrill. The business is still going, which is saying something nowadays. Like a million other small businesses clinging to life by their fingernails, better times are, as always, just around the corner...